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IG Metall Urges VW’s U.S. Workers to Join UAW

Germany's IG Metall union has encouraged hourly employees at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tenn., assembly plant to vote for representation by the United Auto Workers union, Reuters reports.
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Germany's IG Metall union has encouraged hourly employees at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tenn., assembly plant to vote for representation by the United Auto Workers union, Reuters reports.

The news service cites a letter than IG Metall President Berthold Huber sent to the factory's 2,350 workers early this month. The union's leaders, "strongly recommend" UAW membership, Huber wrote.

IG Metall's participation is the second signal that the American union might finally succeed in its quest to organize a foreign-owned auto plant. VW human resources chief Horst Neumann said last week that the company was likely to propose a German-style works council at the Chattanooga facility this spring. He called the UAW a "natural partner."

President Bob King declares that the UAW welcomes the works council model because it reflects the union's new, less adversarial relationship with companies.

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