Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee have started voting on whether to join the United Auto Workers union. Last month, the union said a supermajority of the 4,000 workers at VW’s Chattanooga, Tenn., factory had signed union cards.

What You Need To Know

  • Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., have started voting on whther to join the United Auto Workers union

  • In March, the union said a supermajority of the 4,000 workers at the plant had signed authorization cards to join

  • The union vote runs through Friday

  • VW said it fully supports the vote

In March, the National Labor Relations Board approved the vote among full-time and regular part-time production and maintenance employees for April 17-19. Results are expected late Friday night.

The 3.8-million-square-foot factory makes the Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV, the Atlas SUV and the Atlas Cross Sport.

“We respect our workers’ right to a democratic process and to determine who should represent their interests,” a Volkswagen spokesperson told Spectrum News. “We will fully support an NLRB vote so every team member has a chance to vote in privacy in this important decision.”

He said Volkswagen is proud of the working environment at its Chattanooga plant, adding that it provides some of the best-paying jobs in the area.

Workers at the plant who support joining the UAW said they wanted a say in their schedules, benefits and pay.

The VW factory is the first non-union auto plant to reach the point of holding an election since the UAW began targeting them last year.

Last month, 30% of workers at a Toyota factory in Missouri said they had signed union authorization cards. It was the fourth non-union plant to join a growing movement of autoworkers who are attempting to replicate the record contracts the UAW won from the Big Three Detroit automakers last year, including 25% wage bumps.

In February, a majority of workers at the largest Mercedes-Benz factory in the U.S. in Vance, Ala., announced they had signed cards to join the union. The NLRB said it will hold a pre-election hearing on a union vote at that factory on Thursday.