The United Auto Workers (UAW), like a bad penny, has turned up again and wants to make its third attempt at drumming workers in Chattanooga’s Volkswagen manufacturing plant into a union.
Its previous efforts, in 2014 and 2019, were unsuccessful, though both were close votes.
This year, fresh from successful contract negotiations from what used to be known as the Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler), the UAW hopes it can reach 50% plus one vote of the plant’s some 5,000 workers.
Officials said last week they have gathered more than 1,000 signatures on union authorization cards. They need 30% to put a vote in motion (about 1,500 signatures).
Between now and when, or if, the union secures enough signatures to trigger a vote, expect hard sells from both UAW and anti-union forces.