Efforts to organize Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant are ratcheting up as union materials were passed out to workers earlier this month, according to employees.
The union issue arose at the plant Thursday as top VW managers announced the company would create 800 more jobs this year, saying the employees will determine whether to organize.
“They will make the decision,” said Jonathan Browning, Volkswagen Group of America’s chief executive. “We hope it will be well informed.”
According to the Reuters news service, the issue also came up in a meeting with workers Thursday that was closed to the public. Reuters reported that UAW had started passing out authorization cards at the plant in an early formal step needed for union representation.
A VW employee Friday said workers interested in organizing have been distributing information and raising issues such as overtime and working hours.