The National Labor Relations Board has put on hold any vote by the United Auto Workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant.
VW officials had sought the delay, saying issues about UAW's attempt to organize a smaller group of workers at the plant have still not been resolved.
The NLRB agreed in a single-sentence opinion. It was supported by Republicans John Ring and Marvin Kaplan. Lauren McFerran, a Democrat, disagreed, saying that VW "has not established that such extraordinary relief is necessary.”
“This is a victory for Volkswagen workers,” said Tom Haney, a team member at the Volkswagen Chattanooga facility.
“We will continue to educate our colleagues on the negative impact the UAW would have on our factory and remain confident that if another election occurs in the future, workers will vote no and soundly reject the UAW.”
“We could not be more pleased with this decision and are glad the regional director halted the UAW’s attempt to push through a quick election before workers had the opportunity to mobilize and make their voices heard,” said Maury Nicely, a Chattanooga-based lawyer for Evans Harrison Hackett PLC, who represented Southern Momentum in 2014. “Clearly the UAW’s attempt to disavow its own supporters in a dues- and-membership grabbing ploy backfired. If I have said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times: the UAW was wrong for Chattanooga and Volkswagen in 2014 and it is wrong for us today.”
Southern Momentum first formed ahead of the 2014 election at the Volkswagen Chattanooga facility, which the UAW lost by a vote of 712 to 626.