Changed! Tennessee GOP Governor Criticizes Volkswagen Plant Workers’ Union Vote

GALLATIN, Tennessee — Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican from Tennessee, stated on Monday that while he believes the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant employees made a mistake in electing to unionize under the United Auto Workers in a landslide victory, he also noted that it was ultimately their decision.

Prior to the vote, Lee and five other Republican governors from the South actively opposed the UAW’s efforts to organize workers at plants, the majority of which were located in the South. They said that if autoworkers supported union representation, employment would be in danger.

In contrast, the union managed to secure 73% of the vote at a site where employees had just missed out on joining the union in 2014 and 2019. After several strikes against Detroit’s automakers last fall that led to lucrative new contracts, the Volkswagen plant vote was the first in a series of strikes. In May, employees at Mercedes plants close to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will cast ballots about UAW representation.

Lee described the Volkswagen vote as “a loss for workers” to reporters on Monday. He mentioned that he has a “long history with skilled workers” and that his family’s company, Lee Company, employs roughly 1,600 people in building projects, homes, and facilities. However, the workers at Lee Company are not members of a union.

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At a Gallatin event, Lee declared, “I think it’s unwise to put your future in somebody else’s hands.” However, those employees made that choice in light of the particular conditions at that plant. Although I believe it was a mistake, that is their decision.

The union’s first victory in a foreign automaker-owned assembly facility in the South came from Volkswagen.

The campaign by Lee and other Southern Republican governors to persuade autoworkers to vote against the union was denounced by President Joe Biden. The Democrat applauded the accomplishments of labor unions in securing improved contracts for autoworkers, Hollywood actors and writers, healthcare workers, and other industries.

According to a press release issued on Friday, Biden stated, “Let me be clear to the Republican governors that 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 so choose.”