VW Workers in Chattanooga Get Their Union

Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., are joining UAW Local 42.

Volkswagen management and the UAW reached an agreement for recognition of the local when enough workers have signed on. There are about 1,500 workers at the Chattanooga plant.

During an election earlier this year, anti-worker groups and elected officials including Senator Bob Corker and Governor Bill Haslam made several false statements about the campaign, including that Volkswagen management would only expand jobs in Tennessee if there was no union.

A local television station in Chattanooga investigated their claims and reported that: "We also obtained emails that show that Senator Corker's chief of staff was in direct contact with anti-union organizers who were brought in to fight the UAW. He then shared those emails with people in the Haslam administration who were in charge of the incentives."

Corker keeps getting it wrong. This week, VW announced it is investing $900 million to build a new SUV at the Chattanooga plant. That followed the announcement that management and the UAW are moving forward together to make the works council a reality.

Local 42 offers workers the opportunity for a voice in the workplace through the German automaker's "works council" approach to employee engagement, the UAW said. VW has works councils at plants in every country in which it operates, except for the U.S.

Check out this video of VW workers joining UAW Local 42.