Employees at Volkswagen’s SUV assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have voted to join the United Auto Workers in a historic labor victory, the union and Volkswagen announced late Friday.
A preliminary tally released by the company showed workers favored union representation by a count of 2,628 to 985, a nearly 3-1 margin. The landslide win gives the union a crucial toehold in the anti-union South.
The UAW called it a “historic breakthrough” in a statement.
More than 4,000 workers at the facility would be represented by the UAW, which has most of its auto membership at Ford, General Motors and Jeep parent company Stellantis, collectively known as the “Big Three.” The union previously lost two plant-wide votes at Volkswagen, including one in 2019, where it fell short by just 57 votes.