UAW Makes History at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant

Apr 25, 2024

Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to (UAW) in a historic win for organized labor. The German automaker鈥檚 Chattanooga plant was the only VW factory in the world to not be represented by a union.聽

It was also the first time a foreign-owned auto manufacturing factory in the southern United States unionized. UAW鈥檚 will take place at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in mid-May.

Republican leaders in Southern states have taken a hard line against UAW鈥檚 organizing efforts. The governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas signed on to a referring to UAW representatives as 鈥渟pecial interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.鈥�

Labor expert Cedric de Leon, a professor of sociology and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali, putting UAW鈥檚 Volkswagen victory into context.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.