UAW betting on big, symbolic win in Volkswagen vote About 160 skilled trades workers at Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. will vote Thursday and Friday on whether they want the UAW to represent them

Brent Snavely | Detroit Free Press

The UAW will know by the end of the week if its decision to take a second shot at organizing workers at Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., will pay off with a high-profile victory and deliver its first clear-cut win at an automotive assembly plant in the South.

Over the next two days about 160 of Volkswagen's skilled trades workers will vote on whether they want the UAW to be their exclusive bargaining agent.

This election is much different in political intensity and the scope of the workforce than the UAW's first effort to organize Volkswagen employees in February 2014, when all hourly production and skilled trades workers narrowly rejected UAW representation.

Back then, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, several other Tennessee politicians and conservative right-to-work groups jumped into the public debate and urged workers to vote against the UAW. The UAW accused politicians and anti-union groups of improper interference in a union election.

Earlier this week Mike Cantrell, president of UAW Local 42, said the atmosphere is much calmer this time.

"There has not been as much interference at all," he said.

A secret-ballot election victory would represent a tremendous victory for a union that has fought for at least five years to organize workers in Chattanooga and tried numerous other times to win elections at other plants operated by automakers in the South.

"It would be a huge win for the UAW — at least perception wise — to finally organize one of the foreign automakers," said Arthur Wheaton, a professor of labor studies at Cornell University, who also said a victory could help the union's efforts to organize workers at Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Cantrell said members of UAW Local 42 drafted a petition in August for a new election — well before Volkswagen became embroiled in a global scandal about the emissions of its diesel engines.

He also said members of the local have been closely watching the UAW's contract talks with the Detroit Three and been encouraged by the big signing bonuses and raises the union won for entry-level workers.

In those contracts, entry-level workers will see their pay rise from $15.78 to $19.28 per hour to a new range starting at $17 per hour and topping out at $29 after eight years. Workers also received signing bonuses ranging from $3,000 to $8,500, depending on the automaker.

"People stayed up-to-date with those discussions for sure," Cantrell said. "Especially as they see those bonuses during Thanksgiving or before Christmas, I am sure all of that that helps us down here."

With less political interference, Cantrell said he is cautiously optimistic that the UAW will win this election.

"We've struggled, and we worked so hard, and we have had so much adversity," Cantrell said. "(A win) would be huge for our local."

In 2014, as the UAW election approached, opposition groups purchased billboards around town attacking the UAW. Sen. Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, flew into town to hold news conferences, and the national media descended on the town as tensions rose.

The UAW lost that election when workers voted 712-626 against UAW representation. But the UAW didn't give up. It set up an official chapter — UAW Local 42 — in July 2014 to continue efforts to organize workers.

About a year ago, Volkswagen, which has been more open to the UAW than most Asian or German automakers, established a Community Organization Engagement policy that allowed both the UAW and rival the group American Council of Employees to meet periodically with management.

Cantrell said that structure has been beneficial for workers, and he hopes it will continue to exist regardless of the outcome of this week's election. But he also said the UAW has made it clear from the start that it was not satisfied with the Volkswagen's Community Engagement policy.

"It has been useful. It has been productive in some ways," Cantrell said. "But from the beginning ... we expected it to be a first step towards collective bargaining. And from the start, we expressed a desire for collective bargaining."

While the political climate is less intense, Volkswagen has taken a more hostile stance against the UAW for this election than it did in 2014.

The company was officially neutral during the first election and was criticized by anti-union groups for actions that some saw as sympathetic to the UAW.

That has changed. In recent weeks Volkswagen challenged the UAW's ability to hold an election for a small group of workers. In hearings held by the National Labor Relations Board, the company's attorneys argued that maintenance workers who fix plant equipment are part of production and shouldn't be carved out as a separate unit.

The NLRB disagreed and ruled that the election can proceed. Volkswagen said earlier this week it plans to appeal that ruling.

"We believe that any union election for the Chattanooga plant should provide all hourly team members — production and maintenance — with the opportunity to participate," the automaker said in a statement.

UAW Vice President Gary Casteel urged the automaker to drop its appeal.

"While Volkswagen cites a 'one team concept' as the reason for opposing these rights, the company did not hesitate to grant limited recognition to an anti-labor organization that sought to undermine employee representation in the Chattanooga plant," Casteel said in a statement.

Gary Klotz, partner at Butzel Long who advises corporations on labor issues, said Volkswagen will have a tough time winning its appeal.

"The NLRB implemented its expedited election rules and its micro-bargaining unit decision to help unions win more elections in this kind of setting," Klotz said. "The NLRB will not change its position on micro-units just because VW, a high-profile employer, is challenging the micro-bargaining unit."

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.