UPDATE: UAW Forms Local for VW Employees in Chattanooga

The United Auto Workers union has chartered Local 42 in Chattanooga, Tenn., to represent workers at Volkswagen AG's car plant there.

The Wall Street Journal cites an internal UAW document indicating the union also intends to set up a similar non-bargaining local near Daimler AG's assembly plant in Vance, Ala.

The UAW fell 44 votes short of organizing VW's Chattanooga facility during a ballot in February. The union praised VW's "free and open" atmosphere at the time. But it complained the vote was tainted by outside interference, including suggestions from state politicians that the plant might miss out on future VW vehicle programs if it became unionized.

The local will be run by VW employees and is open exclusively to the plant's workforce. The union emphasizes that no workers are required to join.

Analysts say the UAW's moves are a long-term strategy to emulate German-style "works councils," where labor and management meet to set local work rules. The U.S. outlaws such groups, which VW favors, unless workers are represented by an outside union.