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Tennessee Volkswagen plant rejects unionization

A win would have offered the United Auto Workers its first fully organized, foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally anti-union South.

FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2015, file photo, a man walks through the employee parking lot at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2015, file photo, a man walks through the employee parking lot at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.Read moreErik Schelzig / AP
    by The Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have voted against forming a union.

A win would have offered the United Auto Workers its first fully organized, foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally antiunion South.

The vote of hourly workers began Wednesday and concluded Friday. The German automaker said in a statement Friday night that preliminary results show 833 employees voted against representation and 776 voted for it.

Gov. Bill Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and other top Republicans urged a “no” vote, saying a union could cause economic harm.

In 2014, then-U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and then-Gov. Bill Haslam helped convince Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga to vote against UAW representation.

UAW officials questioned why Chattanooga should differ from Volkswagen’s other major, union-represented plants worldwide, or Spring Hill’s General Motors plant with 3,000 UAW-represented workers.