(April 20, 2024) Workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant in Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW, a potentially industry-altering move that represents a breakthrough in the union's long-running crusade to organize transplant automakers in the southern U.S.

The UAW claimed victory with 2,628 votes in favor and 985 opposed, according to the National Labor Relations Board, which must still certify the results.

The victory comes after two failed attempts this past decade to organize the Chattanooga plant and gives VW its first UAW-represented facility in the U.S. since closing its Westmoreland, Pa., assembly plant in 1988. Union supporters pushed for the vote after the UAW ratified historically rich contracts with the Detroit 3, making the case that VW workers could get better pay, benefits and job security.

VW, in a statement, said: "We will await certification of the results by the NLRB. Volkswagen thanks its Chattanooga workers for voting in this election."

The election was widely seen as a barometer for the union's ability to succeed in its $40 million effort to organize 13 automakers with U.S. assembly plants. It gives the UAW a long-sought foothold in the South and could become a springboard for other victories as it attempts to reverse its declining membership, which last year fell to its lowest level since 2009.