Union membership in the U.S. has been declining for decades. But, in 2022, support for unions among Americans was the highest it's been in decades. This dissonance is due, in part, to the difficulties of one important phase in the life cycle of a union: setting up a union in the first place. One place where that has been particularly clear is at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Back in 2008, Volkswagen announced that they would be setting up production in the United States after a 20-year absence. They planned to build a new auto manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. Volkswagen has plants all over the world, all of which have some kind of worker representation, and the company said that it wanted that for Chattanooga too. So, the United Auto Workers, the union that traditionally represents auto workers, thought they would be able to successfully unionize this plant. They were wrong. In this episode, we tell the story of the UAW's 10-year fight to unionize the Chattanooga plant. And, what other unions can learn from how badly that fight went for labor. This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Willa Rubin. It was engineered by Josephine Nyounai, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and edited by Keith Romer. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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In May 2011, hundreds of people dressed business casual show up, have some hors d'oeuvres, and witness the grand opening of a brand new 2 million square foot auto manufacturing port.
This is spectacular.
This is the good.
It's like a fun party.
Some of the guests are cars.
The crowd is invited to an enormous room with rows and rows of chairs facing a stage.
Please be seated.
The opening ceremony is about to begin.
The overhead lights dim and the video screens flash the Volkswagen logo.
Das Audo is finally back in the states.
The future for Volkswagen begins here in Chattanooga.
I gotta say, this is such a weird announcement.
Yeah, it kind of gets weirder.
As part of the opening ceremonies, there's an interpretive dance by people in white bodysuits and it kind of appears like they're assembling a Volkswagen.
Afterwards, there is a more just straight ahead press conference.
Right?
Tennessee Senator Bob Corker is there and he's emotional.