GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that he thinks workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga made a mistake by voting to unionize under the United Auto Workers in a landslide election but acknowledged the choice was ultimately up to them.
Ahead of the vote, Lee and five other Southern Republican governors spoke out publicly against the UAW’s drive to organize workers at factories largely in the South, arguing that if autoworkers were to vote for union representation, it would jeopardize jobs.
Instead, the union wound up pulling 73% of the vote at a facility whose workers had narrowly rejected the union in 2019 and 2014. The Volkswagen plant vote was the first to follow a series of strikes last fall against Detroit’s automakers that resulted in lucrative new contracts. Workers at Mercedes factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will vote on UAW representation in May.
Philippines, US launch yearly large
Report recommends councillors don't support plan for second Auckland harbour crossing
Pence says he will not endorse former boss Trump in 2024 US election
Truancy: Why it matters, what the law says and what is being done about it
Apple takes down WhatsApp, Threads from China app store — Radio Free Asia
Journalist and commentator Rod Oram dies after cycling accident
Victorian miner killed in Ballarat Gold Mine rockfall as investigation continues
Two bodies recovered as divers search river after ship hit Baltimore bridge
Kate's cancer diagnosis updates: Reactions from around the world