UAW Regroups After Failing to Organize VW Plant

The United Auto Workers union says it may alter its tactics, but it vows not to give up after workers at Volkswagen AG's three-year-old factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted down UAW representation 712 to 626.

The union had been counting on a victory at VW to build momentum that would help it organize other foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S.

The UAW praised VW's management for creating a "free and open atmosphere" during the organizing effort and last week's three-day balloting process. But it expressed outrage at the virulent anti-union pressure led by Tennessee's Gov. Bill Haslam and Sen. Bob Corker for "interfering" with worker rights to form a union.

VW is keen to create a works council at the factory similar to ones it has in Germany. Such groups consist of elected representatives who make decisions about work conditions and rules. American labor law requires workers to be represented by a union before that can happen. The carmaker says it will consult with labor experts about how to reach its goal.

Both sides claimed that a victory by the other would threaten the economic future of the plant, which currently makes an Americanized version of the VW Passat midsize sedan. The $1 billion facility has capacity to make about 170,000 cars annually but last year sold about 110,000 Passats in the U.S.

VW is considering the Chattanooga plant to launch a three-row crossover based on the CrossBlue concept the company unveiled in Detroit last year. Corker claimed last week that if workers rejected the UAW, the carmaker would choose Chattanooga rather than its nonunion plant in Puebla, Mexico, to build a new three-row crossover. VW said there is no connection between the vote and its production decision.