Tennessee’s Republican governor says Volkswagen plant workers made a mistake in union vote

GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Monday he believes workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga made a mistake in voting to unionize under the United Auto Workers union during landslide election, but acknowledged that the choice was ultimately theirs.

Before the vote, Lee and five other Southern Republican governors spoke publicly against the UAW’s push to organize workers from factories primarily located in the South, arguing that if auto workers voted for representation union, this would endanger jobs.

Instead, the union ended up winning 73% of the vote at a factory whose workers had narrowly rejected the union in 2019 and 2014. The Volkswagen plant’s vote was the first following a series of strikes last fall against Detroit automakers that resulted in lucrative news. contracts. Workers at Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will vote on UAW representation in May.

Lee told reporters Monday that Volkswagen’s vote was “a loss for workers.” He noted that he has a “long history with skilled workers” — workers are not unionized at his family’s business, Lee Company, which employs about 1,600 people at home. facilities and construction projects.

“I think it’s not wise to put your future in someone else’s hands,” Lee said at an event in Gallatin. “But these workers made this decision based on the particular circumstances of this factory. I think it was a mistake, but it’s their choice.

Volkswagen’s victory was the union’s first at a Southern assembly plant owned by a foreign automaker.

President Joe Biden condemned the push by Lee and other Southern Republican governors to urge autoworkers to vote against the union. The Democrat praised the success of unions representing auto workers, Hollywood actors and writers, health care workers and others in winning better contracts.

“Let me be clear to the Republican governors who tried to undermine this vote: There is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they choose,” said Biden in a press release Friday.