Volkswagen workers and Passats are seen at the Chattanooga manufacturing plant .View our Volkswagen/UAW special page with timeline, slideshow, local and national coverage and opinions
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga who are members of United Auto Workers Local 42 voted Friday for a president and other officers for the first time, saying they’re making history.
But VW plant employees who are UAW opponents said they’re still working toward the company recognizing their union as the employees’ bargaining agent, and they maintain that Local 42’s election of officers doesn’t lend it any further credibility.
The local’s election in Chattanooga comes as the UAW on Friday stepped up its organizing efforts at the Mercedes plant in Vance, Ala., with the formation of a similar non-dues-paying unit there.
At UAW Local 42, its members were choosing between three candidates for president — Mike Cantrell, Monty D. Flannigan and John Wright — as well as electing a vice president, secretary-treasurer, trustees and filling other offices.