Volkswagen workers vote overwhelmingly to join the UAW, giving the union a groundbreaking win

Hourly workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee overwhelming voted to join the United Auto Workers late Friday, a major breakthrough in the union’s effort to organize workers at plants nationwide.

Shortly after 11 pm ET on Friday the National Labor Relations Board, the federal body that oversees such votes, announced that 73% of the 3,600 workers at the plant who cast ballots had voted in favor of joining the union. There was an 84% turnout among eligible voters.

“This election is big,” said Kelcey Smith, a worker in the paint department at Volkswagen, in a UAW statement. “This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”