‘What’s the contract say, and where’s my damn rep?’: Notable quotes from a week of Chattanooga area news

Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / UAW President Shawn Fain speaks alongside employees of Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant following a vote by the employees to approve their first contract with the company. Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / UAW President Shawn Fain speaks alongside employees of Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant following a vote by the employees to approve their first contract with the company.

By Staff Report February 21, 2026 4 min read

People who had a way with words in the news last week:

“What’s the contract say, and where’s my damn rep?”

— Steve Cochran, a cochair of the local UAW bargaining committee, on a phrase Chattanooga VW workers can now use when they feel they’re being treated unfairly, after the workers approved their first union contract with the company.

“He said, ‘It takes two hands to clap to make a sound,’ and he said, ‘If you take one away, there’s no sound.’ He said, ‘We’re not going to do anything but sit here and pray. We’re not going down there to challenge them, because we would be the other hand.'”