Tennessee Volkswagen workers vote to join UAW in historic union win

April 20 (UPI) -- Nearly three-fourths of workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga factory in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers in what the union hailed as an historic landslide victory.

The National Labor Relations Board confirmed Friday that 73% workers at the Chattanooga plant voted 2,628-985 to join the UAW, making the German automaker's factory the first foreign automaker in the United States to unionize.

The vote also makes the Volkswagen plant the first automotive factory in the Southern United States to unionize.

UAW contract wins after striking at the big three automakers' factories last year helped convince Volkswagen workers to join the union after two prior votes failed in recent years, the union said.

"We saw the big contract that UAW workers won at the Big Three and that got everybody talking," Zachary Costello, a VW trainer, said in a UAW news release. "You see the pay, the benefits, the rights UAW members have on the job, and you see how that would change your life."

Voting began early Wednesday and concluded at 8 p.m. EDT Friday, with the results announced soon voting ended.

The vote spurred five Republican governors in Tennessee and four other states to write an open letter Tuesday opposing the organizing effort at the Chattanooga plant.

The governors said they "are highly concerned about the unionization campaign driven by misinformation and scare tactics" and cautioned that "companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunities."

"We want to keep good paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector here," the governors said. "A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks to the detriment of American workers."

President Joe Biden sent congratulations to workers in a statement, calling the organizing win for the UAW good for the nation.

"Across the country, union members have logged major wins and large raises," Biden said. "These union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle-class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers."

The UAW said about 5,000 workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., will vote on joining the UAW May 13 to 17.

Workers at a Toyota plant in Troy, Mo., and a Hyundai factory in Montgomery, Ala., also are organizing to vote on joining the UAW, the union said.