UAW Says Volkswagen Broke Pledge to Recognize Union

June 26, 2016 
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel

Nashville, Tenn – Volkswagen broke an agreement it signed in 2014 to recognize the United Auto Workers as a “members union” at its Chattanooga plant, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Gary Casteel said June 21 after releasing a copy of the document.

Casteel said VW made the agreement in exchange for the UAW withdrawing its challenge to the election earlier that year in which workers at the plant voted against the union. A VW spokesperson said the company was only agreeing to meetings with worker representatives, not collective bargaining. Casteel said that’s not true. “We all talked extensively about what recognition means and what would occur if we withdrew our objections to the election,” he said. “The meaning was very clear to all in the room.” VW has also refused to recognize the UAW as representing the plant’s skilled maintenance workers, who voted last December to join the union. It plans to appeal a National Labor Relations Board ruling that it should recognize those workers as a UAW bargaining unit. Read more