In a historic win for workers’ rights in the US South, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and the German auto manufacturer Volkswagen have reached a tentative new contract agreement at the company’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The deal covering 3,500 workers marks the culmination of two years of sustained organising and collective bargaining negotiations since employees in Chattanooga voted 3 – 1 to join the UAW in April 2024.
The VW Chattanooga plant, was until the 2024 vote, the last VW operation anywhere in the world that was non union.
The organising campaign in Chattanooga was itself a breakthrough for US unions in the traditionally anti union US South. Earlier union organising campaigns in 2014 and 2019 had failed.
The union win in 2024 came after a complex and prolonged battle with company management, who had engaged in a high profile anti union campaign at the plant and the tentative contract marks a big breakthrough for non-union autoworkers and manufacturing workers across the US South.
The tentative deal ensures that Volkswagen workers will have a legally binding and enforceable agreement that guarantees a 20% pay offer, fair pay, more affordable health care, safer working conditions, and clear protections against favouritism.
“For years, Chattanooga workers were told to settle for less while Volkswagen made record profits. So, the workers stood together and won their union – and now they’ve secured a life-changing first agreement,” said UAW President Shawn Fain who has lead the UAW campaign to unionise non union auto plants in the southern states.
On his election in 2023 as union president he put non union auto plants and in the supply chain in the south states on notice that the UAW would be mounting mount strategic and well funded organising campaigns.
Anti union campaigns in the Southern States have traditionally used union busting tactics including wide spread media advertising, mandatory captive audience meetings of workers addressed by managers and company lawyers, one-on-one meetings to intimidate workers threats of violence and threats of plant closures.
For workers like bargaining committee co-chair Steve Cochran, a skilled trades worker the agreement represents a turning point. “A strong contract makes sure promises are delivered. Respect and security shouldn’t be up for negotiation—and now they won’t be.”
The tentative agreement is especially significant given Volkswagen’s recent record-breaking profits. In 2024 alone, the world’s second-largest automaker reported $20.6 billion in profits—even as Chattanooga workers struggled under substandard health coverage and rising out-of-pocket costs.
During the contract campaign in Chattanooga, the management tried to decertify the union after the 2024 vote .
In December last year after the UAW voted to authorise strike action a website was launched advocating that workers break with their union and take Volkswagen’s previous “last, best and final” offer. “Decertify the UAW and take your raise without all the drama,” the site said.
“This deal proves what happens when auto workers stand up and demand their fair share” said President Fain. People said Southern autoworkers could never form a union or win a union contract. Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga said, ‘Watch this.’”