UAW's Fain says VW victory shows union 'can win anywhere'

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said the union's organizing victory at Volkswagen AG's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, shows the union "can win anywhere."

The plant that builds the Volkswagen ID.4, Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport on Friday became the first foreign-owned automaker organized in the South by the Detroit-based union. Of the almost 84% of eligible workers at the plant who voted last week, 73% supported UAW representation, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The results, if not appealed this week, would send the German automaker to the bargaining table with the union — to get a contract "as soon as possible," Fain said. His goal is to align the expiration of a future contract around May 1, 2028, the same as the new contract deadlines with the Detroit Three and the same date the union has urged the greater labor movement to coalesce around.

"Working-class people have to come together in this world," he told The Detroit News in a phone interview. "The corporate class came together years ago, and they went global, and they fight with workers globally. They manipulate workers globally, and they pit worker against worker globally, and it's time that we unify as workers, and we pull our power, and we take these companies on globally as they have done to us over the last 40 years."

The winning UAW vote came despite opposition from Republican governors, right-to-work proponents and a minority of workers at VW's Chattanooga plant, where two earlier unionization votes were defeated. Volkswagen referred to a statement from Friday saying that it's awaiting the NLRB's certification of the vote. It didn't indicate whether it would appeal.

Fain declined to detail priorities in negotiating a contract with Volkswagen or how close an agreement could be to the contracts with General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV. The union's next steps include assembling a bargaining committee and hearing from the members what they want to see in a deal. Fain noted insufficient paid time off was an issue he's heard repeatedly. VW this year added two unplanned paid time-off days for a total of five.

"You want to let the members make those decisions," Fain said about potential demands.

It also wasn't immediately clear whether the union would seek representation on VW's governing supervisory board, or " Aufsichtsrat." German law requires large companies to appoint labor representatives to the board, part of the country's two-tier governance structure known as co-determination.

A supervisory board, whose deputy chairman typically comes from among its labor representatives, monitors the executive team running the company's daily operations. IG Metall and other unions on boards like VW's have played roles in removing troublesome or under-performing CEOs, though critics also have said the governance structure placated unions by encouraging common ground, avoiding strikes and watering down agreements.

But after the revelation of bribes, kickbacks and corruption within the UAW — culminating in federal prison for two former presidents, among other union officials — its rank-and-file voted to institute direct election of its international leaders. In the wake, those leaders, like Fain, have promised greater transparency and called members' employers the enemy.

The German approach to labor relations and that practiced in the United States hew to different philosophies, Marick Masters, a management professor at Wayne State University, said of the UAW: "I would think they would stick to the more traditional collective bargaining approach.

"That doesn’t mean they don’t want some form of representation as some have on some (the) board. I think they’re going to look at this as saying, 'We’re not here to be co-managers of the operation. We still will bargain and represent our workers. We just want to make certain they are able to do so by whatever means necessary.'"

The Volkswagen win gears up the union for its next organizing challenge outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where roughly 5,000 workers at Mercedes-Benz's Vance assembly plant and Woodstock battery plant will vote May 13-17 on whether to join the union.

"It gives the Mercedes workers the courage to know now that it can happen, and that it is possible," Fain said about the impact of the Volkswagen result. "The workers at Mercedes to me are fed up. It's going to really give workers all over a lot of hope. It's lifted them all up, and I believe that you're going to see the numbers increase and see more people signing cards to want to join and get some control of their work lives."

Mercedes previously said in a statement sent by spokesperson Andrea Berg it respects its employees' decision on whether to unionize, that it seeks to offer a safe work environment to build vehicles, and that it believes "open and direct communication with our Team Members is the best path forward to ensure continued success."

Kirk Garner, a 26-year employee at the Mercedes plant, has been working on the effort to organize the plant since 2000. When the Detroit Three recently “got a real good contract," he said, "a lot of people saw that and wanted to get involved in a movement."

Not everyone, though, agrees. Jay White, a 19-year worker at the Mercedes plant, plans to vote against the UAW representation. He said he's done the math, looked at the cost of living between where he is in Alabama and Detroit, and says he believes he comes out ahead.

“I can speak for myself,” White said. “I make a very good living wage, I live in a wonderful area, get a 401(k) with superior matching. I have no need for a union. Other than taking my money, there is nothing in my mind that they are going to be able to do for me.”

The union previously had tried organizing Chattanooga. In 2019, VW workers at the plant voted 51.8% against union representation. There also was a narrow defeat in 2014. At the Mercedes plant, an organizing effort fizzled out in 2014 going to a vote.

Although Fain suggested the Volkswagen win last week provided evidence of the UAW's ability to organize in areas where it had failed in the past, experts say those close calls in the past, the German automaker's other plants around the globe having employee representation, and its partnership with unions elsewhere on its supervisory board make it a lower barrier to entry than some others. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. have reputations for treating workers well, and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk publicly said he doesn't like unions.

The landslide at Volkswagen potentially foretells a positive result in the election at Mercedes, too, WSU's Masters said: "It's certainly an indicator that it has the opportunity to represent workers all across the country. They obviously will face different levels of obstacles depending on the region and the particular employer they’ll be dealing with. (Fain) recognizes that he can only achieve so much success in the UAW in its current state. Labor has to grow."

The UAW last fall, after reaching record agreements with the Detroit Three, announced its campaign seeking to double the number of its 146,000 autoworker members by organizing plants at 14 automakers. Earlier this year, it said it was putting $40 million toward the efforts there and at electric vehicle battery plants through 2026.

The union, at the end of 2023, recorded its smallest membership volume since the Great Recession. The more than 370,000 total represented a loss of nearly 13,000 workers. But the Volkswagen organization effort is a sign that "our union is growing, and we're going to continue to grow, and we all went through this, and it strengthened us," Fain said.

He added that sacrifices made by Detroit Three autoworkers — especially those on strike in the fall that resulted in 27% compounded wage increases by the end of 2027, the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments, billions of dollars in investments, fewer tiers and increased retirement contributions — were the match that lit the flame to make the organizing campaign at VW successful.

"When we bargain good contracts, people want to be a part of that," he said. "Bargaining and organizing go hand-in-hand. We bargained a great contract. The companies right away try to throw raises at employees to try to keep them from wanting to organize, because they don't want workers to have justice on the job. And obviously, the workers see that for what it is."

Following the tentative agreements at the Detroit Three, several competitors announced changes to pay scales. As a part of an annual compensation review, top-paid Volkswagen production workers saw an 11% pay increase to $32.40 per hour and the timeline to the top decreased to four years from seven. The percentage increase was the same as what Detroit Three automakers immediately received upon ratification, raising their pay to more than $25 per hour. The timeline for the top pay also decreased to three years from eight.

Fain said the union has leads on further expansion efforts and a plan in place to continue its organizing drive. He emphasized the role of an expanded organizing department with new leaders, such as Director Brian Shepherd, in addition to learnings from past campaigns. Members of organizing councils at VW and Mercedes-Benz have talked about how workers in the plants are playing a larger role in spurring support.

"We've been ingrained in this union for a long time at doing things the same way, and I felt like it was important to bring in some people that have a different set of eyes and a different set of beliefs and then combine those things and get the best plan going forward, " Fain said. "Ultimately, it was the workers. They went to work. And they went to work in the shop floor and rallied fellow workers."

Fain added that he felt like opposition from politicians — namely Republican governors from six states, including Tennessee — had the opposite effect from what was intended: "They want to instill fear and uncertainty in their workers, and they'll use their surrogates and politicians and outside groups. The tricks the company uses, they don't work anymore. They really had no impact because the workers have seen it. They know. They made the call for what it is."