For decades, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has struggled to establish a foothold outside the “Big Three” (GM, Ford, and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler), especially in the U.S. South. Foreign automakers have fiercely resisted unionization. About 11 months ago, on April 18 2024, the labor movement scored a historic victory: workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant voted to join the UAW by a big margin, 73% of workers voting for union representation.
About a month later, in May 2024, the union suffered a setback when workers at Mercedes-Benz’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant narrowly rejected unionization. Less widely known, the UAW’s forward momentum in the south resumed when it won recognition at a battery maker in Tennessee in September 2024.
Southern Resistance to Auto Industry Unionization
The South has long been considered the UAW’s toughest battleground. After General Motors pursued its own non-union “southern strategy” in the early 1970s, the UAW won union neutrality from the company in 1976 and then organized southern plants. Honda, Nissan, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz have all fought to keep unions out of their factories, often with the backing of pro-business state and local lawmakers.
Organized labor advocates say the opposition isn’t just about corporate policy—it’s about a broader anti-union culture that has defined the region’s labor landscape for decades. From aggressive anti-union campaigns to legislative roadblocks, efforts to unionize Southern auto plants have faced significant challenges.
A Historic Win in Chattanooga
The successful unionization of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant a year ago was more than just a successful organization campaign: it was an emotional win for organizers. Years of hard, thankless work were beginning to pay off.
“This election is big,” said Kelcey Smith, a Volkswagen employee in the plant’s paint department. “People in high places told us good things can’t happen here in Chattanooga. “They told us this isn’t the time to stand up, this isn’t the place. But we did stand up and we won. This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”
Despite management’s opposition, workers backed the union, hoping for higher wages, stronger job protections, and a greater say in workplace conditions. Labor organizers hailed the win as a potential turning point for the UAW’s efforts in the South.
A Setback in Alabama
Buoyed by the Chattanooga victory, the UAW set its sights on Mercedes-Benz’s Vance, Alabama, plant, where over 70% of workers signed cards in favor of a union election. But when the votes were counted, the motion was defeated 56% to 44%.
Union leaders blamed aggressive anti-union tactics by Mercedes management and filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. The UAW alleges that the company disciplined workers for discussing unionization, fired pro-union employees under questionable circumstances, and forced workers into mandatory meetings where anti-union speakers warned of potential job losses.
While the defeat was a disappointment, the narrow margin suggests attitudes toward unions in the South may be shifting. In previous elections at similar facilities, unionization efforts were rejected by wider margins. The close vote at Mercedes signals that even in traditionally anti-union states, workers may be growing more receptive to organized labor.
Another UAW Step Forward in Tennessee
The UAW’s forward progress resumed in September 2024, when the union won recognition at a battery joint venture owned by GM and LG Energy Solutions of Korea, Ultium Cells, LLC. The battery plant is in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the site of the GM Saturn plant built in 1986 to model a more cooperative labor-management relationship. The GM Saturn plant closed in 2007. Ultium UAW members ratified their first local contract last week.
A Battery Plant in Pennsylvania Unionizes
In Pennsylvania, the United Steelworkers organized another battery plant, last September 5, EOS Energy. Rather than producing electric vehicle batteries, the company currently makes innovative, zinc-based, long-duration energy storage batteries for grid-scale stationary battery storage.
Management and union at EOS in Turtle Creek, 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh reached their first contract on February 14, 2025. Management and labor at EOS Energy have quickly forged a strong partnership, with both parties committed to help the company scale production and hire hundreds of additional workers.
Don’t Mourn, Organize
For organized labor, the Chattanooga victory proved that unions could win in the South. Moreover, the Ultium recognition and now contract show that unionization at VW was not a one-shot deal.
With shifting labor policies and a more anti-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), maintaining organizing momentum and continuing to win major contract gains is more critical than ever—in the auto industry and beyond. If tariffs do grow manufacturing jobs in the United States, the only way to ensure they will be good jobs is through unionization.