On Friday, Volkswagen workers at Chattanooga, Tennessee plant voted against joining the United Auto Workers, country’s largest industrial union. UAW was making efforts to organize workers at a foreign automaker in the southern US. The voting started on Wednesday and concluded on Friday. In three days of balloting, 833 hourly workers voted against the UAW representation, while 776 voted in favour. It is said that the workers rejected union’s hold amid ‘concerns that unionisation could temper the German automaker’s interest in Tennessee’. Volkswagen, which started its plant in Chattanooga in 2011, reported that the plant has about 1,700 permanent workers and 3,200 temporary workers at its plant. The voting was limited to full-time employees. The company said that 93% of eligible employees participated in the election process i.e. a total of 1,609 employees cast their votes. The voting was conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. The result isn’t official as NLRB needs to certify the results in the coming weeks, along with a legal review. Frank Fischer, president and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga said in an email, “Our employees have spoken. Volkswagen will respect the decision of the majority.” Fischer also praised the state for its support towards the company. Fischer added, “We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with elected officials and business leaders in Tennessee. We chose Chattanooga to build our American production facility for a number of reasons, but in particular because of the quality of the workforce, the commitment of the business community, and the support and investments by state and local governments. “As we have said throughout this process, our commitment to Tennessee is a long-term investment and central to the success of VW America. We look forward to working with the state of Tennessee, Hamilton County and the city of Chattanooga to support job creation, growth, and economic development today and into the future.” Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for UAW, said that the voting was manipulated and ‘it was a very close vote’. Arthur Schwartz, president of Labor and Economic Associates, said that the ‘setback’ which union received was not new as the union has lost a series of elections in the South over the years. Schwartz added that what would follow now is UAW’s negotiation attempts. UAW’s recent defeat comes ahead of its negotiations with GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.