Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee will vote on joining the United Auto Workers union in April. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board said the vote will take place April 17-19, with the ballot count beginning once voting ends.

What You Need To Know

  • 4,000 workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tenn., factory will vote April 17-19 on whether to join the United Auto Workers

  • It is the first non-union plant to reach the point of holding a union election since the UAW began targeting them last year

  • The VW workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board last week to hold the vote

  • A supermajority of the plant's workers signed union cards in 100 days

“We’re voting yes to win a better life for ourselves and our families,” VW assembly worker Isaac Meadows said in a statement Monday. He is one of more than 4,000 workers at VW’s Chattanooga, Tenn., factory who will participate in a secret-ballot vote at the plant next month.  “We need a say in our schedules, benefits, pay and more. We’re proud to work at Volkswagen, but we also know the value of a voice at work.”

The NLRB’s vote date announcement comes one week after the United Auto Workers said employees at the factory had filed a petition with the agency to hold the vote after a supermajority signed union cards in 100 days.

“We received notice that the UAW has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election to determine representation of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant,” a Volkswagen spokesperson told Spectrum News last week. “We respect our workers' right to a democratic process and to determine who should represent their interests. We will fully support an NLRB vote so every team member has a chance to vote in privacy in this important decision.”

He said Volkswagenis proud of the working environment at its Chattanooga plant, adding that it provides some of the best-paying jobs in the area. The 3.8-million-square-foot factory makes the Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV, the Atlas SUV and the Atlas Cross Sport.

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

Earlier this 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 AUW 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. Workers at a Hyundai factory in Montgomery, Ala., are also organizing, according to the UAW.