VW gives 14% wage hike over 4 years to Tennessee manufacturing unit staff

By Nora Eckert and David Shepardson

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Volkswagen stated Wednesday it’s providing its newly unionized staff at its Tennessee meeting plant a 14% wage improve over 4 years and revenue sharing.

The automaker and United Auto Employees union, which gained the suitable to characterize staff on the Chattanooga, Tennessee facility in April, have been engaged in contract talks for a number of months. VW stated the corporate’s provide consists of revenue sharing for the primary time and improves healthcare advantages for hourly staff on the plant.

UAW-VW Bargaining Committee member Yogi Peoples criticized the provide.

“We’ve been bargaining for months, and VW continues to be not taking our calls for severely. With the document income they’ve made and the dividend schemes they’ve used to pad the pockets of shareholders, there’s greater than sufficient cash to satisfy our calls for for a document contract,” Peoples stated in a press release.

UAW President Shawn Fain’s victory on the VW plant made it the primary auto plant within the South to unionize through election for the reason that Nineteen Forties and the primary foreign-owned auto plant within the South to take action.

Fain clinched the win after driving the momentum from a profitable marketing campaign in Detroit in late 2023. After a six-week strike in opposition to Ford (NYSE:F), Normal Motors (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) the union notched 25% normal wage will increase plus price of residing changes for his or her staff.

Fain and the UAW confronted a setback in Might, when staff at a Mercedes plant in Alabama voted in opposition to unionization. The labor group is trying to arrange greater than a dozen non-union automakers throughout the nation, together with Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).

VW in Germany can also be in a tense back-and-forth with unions after a document variety of staff went on strike. The automaker is making an attempt to chop prices to compete with Asian carmakers, warning of great job losses or plant closures.