What Does The UAW’s Formation Of Local 42 For Volkswagen Employees At VW’s Plant In Chattanooga, Tennessee Mean?

The UAW’s viability and perhaps even its survival may depend on whether it can achieve its goal of unionizing foreign-owned automotive manufacturers in the South. To date, the UAW has failed to achieve that goal. In February 2014, it lost an election at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But the UAW is continuing to try to unionize that plant, as well as the Mercedes plant in Alabama and the Nissan plant in Mississippi. In an unconventional act, the UAW, as part of its campaign at the VW plant, recently formed a new local union – UAW Local 42 – for VW workers, even though, by a majority of votes cast in the February election, those workers voted against the UAW and the UAW represents no employees at the VW plant. If the UAW succeeds in unionizing the VW plant in Chattanooga, that would be the most significant labor relations development in the automotive industry in years. The attached article explains the formation of UAW Local 42 and what its formation means.

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