UAW recent organizing breakthroughs in auto manufacturing in the South, major nationwide strikes, and decisive contract successes raise questions about what lessons we can and can’t draw from the last few years’ record of wins and losses.
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to ratify their first union contract last week, securing pay bumps, job protections and a rare win for the United Auto Workers union in the South.
After over 500 days of bargaining, the UAW have reached a first contract with Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee — a major breakthrough for unions in the South that lays the ground for further inroads at other employers across the regionl
About 560 Starbucks locations have voted for union representation since the first vote to unionize four years ago, according to the union Starbucks Workers United.
After a victory in Tennessee and a loss in Alabama, the UAW is pressing onward in its fight to organize the notoriously anti-union South. The fate of Southern workers — and all workers — depends on the movement’s willingness to think big.
Josh Eidelson and Gabrielle Coppola
BloombergBusinessweek
The UAW’s newish president won Detroit auto workers their best deals in decades. Now he’s out to organize Tesla and the rest of the industry’s EV jobs.
The Volkswagen plant would boost UAW's flagging membership, way down because of plant closings and automation. It represented more than 1 million people at auto assembly plants in the 1980s, but only 155,000 at GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler today.
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