Volkswagen's Chattanooga operation has hired 100 production workers so far, and all are from Hamilton County, officials said Monday.
"It makes sense in all kinds of ways," said VW spokesman Scott Wilson about hiring local production employees, specifically citing travel time to work.
VW, which has come under fire by union and other groups for some of its hiring, plans to employ 1,200 people to work in the assembly, body and paint shops. That's the biggest share of the more than 2,000 workers the company has said it will hire for the production plant.
J.Ed. Marston, vice president of marketing for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, said it was the local work force that was pitched to the German automaker when it sought the company.
EQUIPPING THE PLANTEquipment installation is well under way for the auto plant's assembly, body and paint shops, according to VW.
"The game plan from the beginning was that we've got the work force to do this," he said.
VW started hiring production workers earlier this year. Workers will start at $14.50 per hour, growing to $19.50 per hour over three years.
Mr. Wilson said 600 employees have been hired so far by the carmaker, though he didn't know the percentage of local workers of that number.
He said there are Germans and others from VW operations worldwide whose expertise is being used to construct the $1 billion plant.
"Some of those people are getting it up and running, and they'll move onto the next assignment," Mr. Wilson said. "Those (locally) will have a lasting home there."
He said companies hiring people for the adjacent supplier park will look for local workers, too.
But Mr. Wilson said all of the production workers for the plant and supplier park won't come from Hamilton County. He said the county is "the bull's eye and it radiates out from there."
Mr. Marston said VW has made an effort to connect with qualified workers who have the basic skills but may have not worked in the auto industry and train them up for the factory.
"The Chamber's Volkswagen Team has worked directly with Volkswagen, Chattanooga State and other work force development partners to make sure we have a system in place to train our people," he said.
VW plans to begin production of a new midsize sedan at the Enterprise South industrial park plant in about a year.