CHATTANOOGA— Today, the UAW released a new video outlining the priority demands of Volkswagen workers as contract negotiations between the union and the German automaker begin for a first agreement at the Chattanooga plant.
The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.
After a historic victory earlier this year, where 4,300 Volkswagen workers voted almost 3-to-1 to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), union members are now campaigning for a strong first contract. On September 19, the 20-person elected bargaining committee kicked off negotiations with Volkswagen, aiming to win a first agreement that raises standards and includes wages, benefits, and protections on par with those secured by autoworkers in unionized plants.
“I got the carpal tunnel scar right there,” describes Josh Epperson, highlighting the need to prioritize health and safety protocols in their contract. “We have jobs in there that we know are going to hurt people. So why haven’t we done anything about that?”
The vote to join the UAW this past spring marked a watershed moment in the labor movement, with Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga becoming the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to unionize. Now, they are channeling that momentum toward bargaining for a contract that delivers meaningful improvements to their work and lives.
With the success of recent Big Three and Daimler Truck negotiations as inspiration, Volkswagen workers are setting a powerful example of what’s possible when workers come together to demand fairness at work.
“I have tears in both my rotator cuffs, and I have to have surgery,” says Yolanda Peoples, a UAW bargaining committee member. “If we’re gonna win the contract that we deserve, it’s not just the bargainers. We need everyone involved.”
With representation across every department and shift, the bargaining committee has been meeting for weeks to synthesize survey data about members’ aspirations and goals for the first agreement. Supported by veteran negotiator Chuck Browning, UAW Vice President, the group has been reviewing company and industry data and contract language from agreements with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
Full transcript featuring workers from the Volkswagen Chattanooga bargaining team:
I realized the first day, when they told me how much we were making, we need a union. I said if you need a Norma Rae, I’m your girl.
GM and Stellantis. Workers got incredible gains, but their companies aren’t nearly as big as Volkswagen.
It’s up to everybody in that plant to come together and make sure we get what we deserve.
Safety is probably the biggest thing. I mean, I don’t want to worry about losing a limb or breaking a bone.
The company denies injuries until they can’t anymore. I needed carpal tunnel surgery for six years, and they said that it wasn’t work related because it was my non-dominant hand. They told us to use our non-dominant hand.
I’m currently sitting here, right. And I have tears in both my rotator cuffs, and I have to have surgery.
I got the carpal tunnel scar right there. We have jobs in there that we know are going to hurt people. So why haven’t we done anything about that?
The PTO is a big deal.
I went to medical. ‘Oh, you got Covid, you got to go home.’ They turned my badge off. I was gone for about five days. And I realized when I came back, I had all these points. I’m like, why do I got all these points? I didn’t send myself home. Medical sent me home.
I take my PTO when I want it. Not when you want me to take it.
For me, a big deal is retirement. Job security is a big deal. I’m 52.
I have three kids. Is their care covered? Am I at the right doctor? How is that going to impact me financially? I should never have to worry about that. I worked for the world’s largest auto manufacturer.
And when you’re talking about one company making more money than members of the Big Three do, and you see what they provide their employees … come on.
With a contract, it changes the power dynamic completely. They’re in the business to make money. They’re not they’re not in the people business. That’s what the unions for.
The bargaining team is only one part of this. We need the support of everybody in that plant. We all stood up together to win the union. Let’s all stand up together now to win a contract.
If we’re gonna win the contract that we deserve it’s not just the bargainers. We need everyone involved.
It involves 4,311 people that are in that plant every day.
Sign your name to the members’ demands. Talk to your coworkers.
That’s how we won our union and that’s how are we going to win the best contract that you ever seen?
Better than Ford, better than GM. Everybody … Chattanooga! That’s how we going to get it.
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