Volkswagen workers in the United Autoworkers union (UAW) in Chattanooga,Tennessee voted on Thursday to authorise a strike against the German car maker after over a year of contract negotiations have failed to produce a fair contract offer.
It is a historic first, as the first strike authorisation vote at a non-Big Three car maker in the modern era.
The move comes after months of unfair labour practices committed by the company, including bad faith negotiations, unlawful intimidation, and the unilateral cutting of jobs at Volkswagen’s only US assembly plant.
Volkswagen made $20.6 billion (£15.66 billion) in profits in 2024, and generates a full 20 per cent of its profits in North America. The company can afford to provide a union contract that honours the hardworking workers of Chattanooga.
Volkswagen’s most recent proposal does not include the job security language needed to protect workers from plant closures, outsourcing, or the sale of the Chattanooga facility. These protections cost the company nothing — but mean everything to workers and their families.
No strike date has been set, but the union said it would release a date when it has consulted members at the plant.
Volkswagen worker Mitchell Harris said: ‘Because I feel that all my brothers and sisters of UAW Local 42 deserve respect, to provide a better life for their families, and have job security for us and generations to come, I’m voting yes.’
‘The majority of the people I know don’t want VW’s “final offer”. Taylor Fugate another UAW member in Chattanooga said: ‘We need affordable healthcare and a strong job security statement that leaves no gray area.
‘We also deserve equal standards – Southern workers shouldn’t be treated differently!’
‘I’m voting yes because this is the time to show Volkswagen we are serious about receiving industry-standard treatment.
‘Job security’s essential. They could pay us $100 (£76) an hour, but it means nothing if they close the plant two weeks into the agreement.’
James Robinson, a UAW member said: ‘I’m hoping this process shows the company we are serious about getting a fair contract. We will show them their offer wasn’t enough, show them we’re willing to stand up to get what we deserve.’
Federal workers protected from illegal firing
Federal workers and their unions won big on Wednesday as federal judge Susan Illston extended her order barring the administration of US President Donald Trump from firing federal workers because of the government shutdown.
The judge’s order now bars layoffs based on the shutdown indefinitely for any offices of the federal government where members of the plaintiff unions, including American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME), work.
Her decision came in response to the labour unions’ request for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the administration from issuing or implementing reductions-in-force because of the shutdown.
It is a continuation of a temporary restraining order she had previously issued when two unions, AFSCME and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), filed the complaint giving rise to this case the day before the shutdown began.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders said: ‘Today’s ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them.
‘’ These attempted mass firings would devastate both the workers and the people they serve.’
AFSCME members protected by the injunction work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Peace Corps, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and other federal executive agencies.
Since the beginning of the year, they have been speaking out against the attacks from the Trump administration, and winning in court — even before this major victory.
AFSCME members’ stories were particularly influential in Illston’s ruling.
One of those stories came from AFSCME District Council 20 member Dan Ronneberg, who works for the Federal Aviation Administration and is president of AFSCME Local 1653.
In a sworn declaration he filed with the court in support of AFSCME’s injunction motion, Ronneberg explained how the shutdown reductions-in-force would literally be a matter of life and death for him if they were to be extended to the FAA.
Having received a kidney transplant days before the shutdown, Ronneberg said that without insurance through his job, his medications would cost over $9,000 a month (£6,840).
Ronneberg said: ‘Any gap in health care coverage, especially one caused during the shutdown when I am also not being paid, is enough to put my life in serious jeopardy. If I am terminated, my life will be at risk and, at the very least, my family will face financial ruin.’
At a hearing in open court, Illston of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said: ‘I think it’s important that we remember that although we are here talking about statutes and administrative procedure and the like, we are also talking about human lives, and these human lives are being dramatically affected by the activities that we’re discussing this morning.’
Since AFSCME and AFGE initially filed this case on September 30, the lawsuit has been expanded to include employees represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
It now covers all cabinet-level federal agencies and 24 independent federal agencies.
‘We will keep fighting to protect public service jobs against this administration’s unlawful efforts to eliminate them,’ Saunders also said.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford has demanded an apology from the US ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra following a tense exchange between the envoy and the province’s trade representative.
The exchange was between Hoekstra and Ontario trade representative David Paterson over a TV advert criticising Trump’s tariffs.
Calling the remarks ‘absolutely unacceptable’ and ‘unbecoming of an ambassador’, Ford urged Hoekstra to make amends.
He said: ‘Pete, you gotta call Dave up and apologise. It’s simple.’
Last week, President Trump suspended trade talks with Canada over the advert and threatened to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canadian imports.
On Wednesday, the US senate voted to approve a resolution that would block Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
The 50-46 vote would terminate the national emergency used to impose tariffs on some goods from Canada.
But the measure is unlikely to get the support needed in the US House of Representatives.
