① Workers at the Volkswagen factory in the southern US state of Tennessee approved UAW's plan to establish a trade union at the factory with an approval rating of 73%; ② The American South has always been seen as a place where trade unions break down, and the first victory of the Volkswagen factory will probably rewrite the Labor Qualification Bureau in the US automobile industry and more industries.
AFP, April 21 (Editor: Malan) After a lapse of four years, the American Federation of Auto Workers (UAW) finally won its first victory in the southern region of the United States. On Friday, workers at the Volkswagen factory in Tennessee, USA voted to join a trade union organization.
In his speech after the results were released, UAW Chairman Shawn Fain said that even experts had warned him that the UAW could not win in the South. But as a result, workers at the Volkswagen factory in Tennessee approved the UAW unionization plan with a high vote of 73%.
Next, the UAW will plan to hold a workers' vote at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, and the event will be held on May 13. The victory of the Volkswagen factory has opened a hole for the trade union in the American Southern Market, and everyone is concerned about whether this spark can actually flourish.
Is the American South really about to change?
Last year, after winning a huge victory over Detroit's Big Three (GM, Ford, and Stellantis), the UAW immediately announced a campaign to start a union on behalf of nearly 150,000 workers at non-unionized automobile factories located mainly in the South.
Automobile factories targeted by UAW include traditional car brands Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo, as well as electric vehicle giants Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid.
Harry Katz, a labor relations professor at Cornell University, pointed out that although the victory at the Volkswagen factory is welcome, the next challenge for UAW is even more serious, because compared with the almost laissez-faire attitude of Volkswagen management, the management resistance and community resistance of other car manufacturers will be very obvious, and UAW's difficult and dangerous journey to the southern market has only just begun.
Marick Masters, a professor at Detroit Wayne State University's School of Business, pointed out that the UAW's success with the Detroit automaker last year reversed people's impression of the union, and its new leadership is also moving quickly to expand its influence.
But he also warned that now everyone is paying attention to how fast the UAW can make progress in new negotiations. If it cannot quickly start negotiations to obtain a definite labor contract, then the winning atmosphere at Volkswagen's factory will soon be destroyed.
The political battle behind
On the other hand, the White House congratulated the UAW after Volkswagen workers voted to form a union. Biden said in a statement that these union victories helped raise workers' wages and showed that the middle class built America and that unions are still seeking benefits for all workers.
Earlier, the Republican governors of the six southern states of the United States had jointly signed a statement condemning the UAW's expansion of trade union influence in the South, saying that it would lead to a reduction in local employment and further cuts in related investment.
In his statement, Biden also expressed his dissatisfaction with the joint condemnation of the six governors. Harvard law professor Sharon Block pointed out that after Tesla planned to lay off 10% of its employees, governors' concerns had turned into empty threats and cynical concerns, and workers at the Volkswagen factory decided to ignore their warnings during the vote.
She also said that workers have been told that trade unions cannot survive in the South for a long time, but now not only workers in the automobile industry, but workers in other industries are also uniting. The VW vote is a sign that people need to reconsider the development of the industry and region.