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United Auto Workers win vote at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Skilled trades workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga have given the United Auto Workers Union its first inroads into a foreign auto plant in the American south.

This past week the skilled workers who maintain the plant’s equipment and robots at VW's lone U.S. plant voted to have the UAW negotiate their collective bargaining agreements. The workers approved unionization by a vote of 108-44 over two days of voting that ended Friday.

Volkswagen opposed the vote even though every other VW plant worldwide is unionized. The company objected to just a portion of the plant’s 1,400 blue-collar workers voting on unionization, saying it harms the team spirit the company tries to build in its facilities.

The company will ask the National Labor Relations Board to reconsider its decision to allow the vote.

A UAW rep says the overwhelming union victory should persuade Volkswagen to drop its legal challenge.