UAW wins election at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant

Workers will finish casting their ballots Friday night in the latest effort by the United Auto Workers union to organize at Volkswagen's lone USA plant in Tennessee.

During that vote, Republican US senator Bob Corker, whose hometown is Chattanooga, said, "I've had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga". "And we believe these paths will give all of us a voice at Volkswagen in due time".

Collective bargaining is a common practice between employees and employers in the U.S. The NLRB describes collective bargaining as an effort between an employer and employees to "bargain in good faith about wages, hours, vacation time, insurance, safety practices and other subjects".

Since the February 2014 vote, VW has established worker representation groups that include UAW members as well as members of an anti-UAW group.

In addition, VW said that the timing of the vote was bad, considering its ongoing scandal over diesel emissions. Casteel and Chattanooga UAW Local 42 President Mike Cantrell, in a separate interview on Thursday said the election was a result of the "frustration" of skilled trades workers not having collective bargaining rights for wages and benefits.

As has always been the case, Volkswagen respects the right of our employees to decide the question of union representation.

The American Council of Employees, a rival labor group at the Volkswagen plant, in a letter to workers before the vote criticized the move to organize the smaller group of workers.

Ahead of the final tally, both the union and company officials privately say they believe the vote will pass. The vote is set to be completed at 8:30 p.m. The plant employs about 1,450 manufacturing workers, including the skilled tradesmen, and 2,500 total employees.

Labor leaders urged Volkswagen to drop its plans to appeal the outcome of the election.

"Our hope is that the company now will recommit to the values that made Volkswagen a great brand - environmental sustainability and true co-determination between management and employees", Gary Casteel, the union's secretary-treasurer said in a statement after the vote was approved.

The vote came after the UAW lost a vote among hourly workers a year ago.

August 2015: Members of UAW Local 42 ask Volkswagen to recognize the local union as the bargaining representative of skilled trades employees at the Chattanooga plant.

October 2015: UAW Local 42 files paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a representation election for employees in the skilled trades unit.