united auto workers

May 3, 2019 - This week Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee led an anti-union meeting at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant, where last month workers petitioned for an election to join the United Auto Workers. The public and journalists were shut out of the event, which showed how government officials and corporations in the South work together to bust unions.

February 2, 2018 - Despite losing two high-profile organizing campaigns in Mississippi and South Carolina last year, labor unions gained 130,000 members in the South in 2017.

August 11, 2017 - Labor lost a high-profile campaign to unionize auto workers at Nissan plant in Mississippi last week. But the union says it isn't going away, pointing to other historic Southern labor drives that often took multiple elections to win.

March 2, 2017 - Hundreds of workers and civil rights advocates plan to march to the Nissan factory in Canton, Mississippi, this Saturday and call on the automaker to respect employees' right to a union election free from intimidation. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and actor and activist Danny Glover will lead the protest.

February 9, 2017 - After a slight increase in 2015, the number of Southern workers in unions dipped last year. But the election of President Trump has created new urgency for labor to organize, including two high-profile campaigns this spring in Mississippi and South Carolina.

January 27, 2017 - Since 2005, Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi — a city with deep roots in the civil rights movement — have been fighting for the right to unionize. This week they are taking their cause across the South with days of action in at least five cities. 

December 18, 2015 - The past year saw big steps taken toward building a better, stronger and more just South, from wage gains for workers to aid for refugees to grassroots organizing for a more environmentally sustainable future.

December 10, 2015 - The UAW wins in Tennessee. A West Virginia coal boss is found guilty. A populist Democrat wins the governor's race in Louisiana. And firefighters organize in Mississippi.

December 9, 2015 - A "micro-unit" of skilled-trades workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has voted to join the United Auto Workers. While celebrating the victory, some in the plant have begun to question the UAW's management-friendly approach.

December 3, 2015 - In its coverage of the organizing drive leading up to this week's union election at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant, the corporate press has treated union busters as objective authorities.