CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—The United Auto Workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board Apr. 9 for a new union vote at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant—and its officials hope there won’t be any “outside interference.” “We hope that doesn’t happen like the last time,” UAW Local 42 President Steve Cochran told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Local 42 narrowly lost a vote at the plant in February 2014, after then-Sen. Bob Corker collaborated with an anti-union group called Southern Momentum and then-Gov. Bill Haslam threatened that state subsidies would be cut off if the workers voted yes. The plant’s skilled maintenance workers voted to join Local 42 in December 2015, but VW refused to bargain, saying it would only recognize a union of all workers in the plant. Chattanooga workers “are fed up with not having the right to bargain like other VW employees worldwide,” the UAW said in a statement. “It’s time,” added day-shift production worker Annette Stallion. “Our maintenance workers voted to form a union and VW still refused to bargain. They said they would bargain if production and maintenance workers voted—so let’s vote.” The petition is seeking a vote on April 29-30.
