The American Prospect: How Everything Changed at Volkswagen in Chattanooga
This union drive by the UAW looks very different from two other attempts in 2014 and 2019.
By MIKE ELK
This piece is cross-posted from Payday Report, a website about the labor movement.
On a cold, drizzly Valentine’s Day in 2014, I spent the night at a UAW party at the old wood-paneled IBEW hall next to Chattanooga’s brand-new Volkswagen plant as workers eagerly awaited union election results.
One Volkswagen worker passed around a moonshine bottle as nearly 200 people crammed the union hall. The energy was lit as people seemed optimistic that the union would win.
“I am excited,” Volkswagen worker Justin King told me as he was putting on his cowboy boots to get ready for the party.