We work at Volkswagen. And we have a historic opportunity this week. Along with our roughly 4,300 production and maintenance co-workers, we will vote on forming a union with United Auto Workers. The vote will take place Wednesday through Friday.
As supporters of the union who have spoken with dozens of our VW colleagues in recent months, we have great optimism about the outcome of this vote. Despite opposition from numerous powerful politicians and wealthy corporate interests, including VW, most workers want a stronger voice at Volkswagen.
All across the plant, we’ve been hearing the same thing. We build the cars, but the company has the final say over our working conditions. Fundamentally, that isn’t right. Too often, those decisions leave workers behind.
For example, VW’s paid time off policies make it harder to spend time with our families. The company has too much control over our lives. VW workers have had to miss too many of our kids’ Little League games because of mandatory overtime. Or we are required to use our PTO when the plant shuts down, instead of on vacations that we plan with our families. We do this work so that we can spend that time with our families, but work can sometimes pull us apart.
Another major issue is that the company has changed the quality and cost of our health insurance over the years. According to VW’s own website, workers at our plant pay an average of nearly $2,000 per year in health insurance premiums. At Ford, where UAW members have negotiated their health coverage, workers pay $0. The cost of insurance especially hurts workers with families like us, and we believe VW can do better.