Volkswagen-UAW vote a 'watershed moment' for US labor unions

Volkswagen (VWAGY) workers at the automaker's Chattanooga, Tennessee plant voted in favor of joining the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union.

On Market Domination, Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore talks about the various significances that can be found in the UAW's victory.

"This opens up a whole new market of potential union members. There's factories that belong to Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan... The Mercedes-Benz factory has a vote scheduled for May 13 [in Vance, Alabama]," Migliore says. "The success of the VW factory in Chattanooga, they had 73% of the workers approved it, taps into a broader mood of positive feelings for unions across the country right now."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video transcript

JOSH LIPTON: The United Auto Workers Union landing a big win in Tennessee. Volkswagen workers voting overwhelmingly in favor of joining the UAW. A historic win for the Union as it looks to expand and organize outside Detroit. Joining us now to discuss is Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore. Greg it is always good to have you on the show.

So it sounds like UAW here Greg they make history. First, I think organizing victory at a Southern plant. Is this kind of one and done Greg, or no do you think this is-- could it be the start of a bigger, broader trend?

GREG MIGLIORE: Hey guys. Thanks for having me. Always good to be here. The UAW victory in Chattanooga. I think is a watershed moment, for the modern labor movement. It's the first time the union has organized a factory in the American South that didn't originally belong to one of the Detroit Three.

And this opens up a whole new market of potential union members. There's factories that belong to Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan, plenty of others. The Mercedes-Benz factory has a vote scheduled for May 13th. So I think you know we're going to see a lot of what happens next here as to you know how close that vote might be.

And I think the success at the VW factory in Chattanooga. They had 73% of the workers approved it. Taps into a broader mood of just positive feelings for unions across the country right now.

- And Greg you mentioned that Mercedes plant vote which is scheduled for mid-May. But that is expected to be a tougher fight. Do you think the UAW will be successful there?

GREG MIGLIORE: Well, it's hard to look into my crystal ball but right now I would not bet against them. I think, had the Chattanooga vote been a little bit closer maybe like 55-45 or something. Maybe you start to wonder but 73% is impressive figure. That's actually higher than some of the ratification rates, individual UAW plants among the Detroit Three automakers for the deal that went through last fall.

So right now, I think the UAW has an excellent chance at organizing the Mercedes factory in Alabama. And I think for Mercedes and Volkswagen as well, it's important to remember these are German companies that are very familiar with the management and labor model.

They have strong industrial unions in their home country of Germany. So I don't think they're going to actively fight this perhaps it's like maybe a Tesla or somebody might. I think it-- they're used to having a collaborative relationship with the union, so I think there's a good chance of success in Alabama.

JOSH LIPTON: Greg I want to also switch gears to another big trend, big topic. You know we have Tesla earnings on deck. You know beyond Tesla Greg I just want your thoughts on kind of-- kind of EV slowdown we're seeing Greg. I'm interested you know how long you think that continues? And what would we need to see to kind of reaccelerate growth for the industry?

GREG MIGLIORE: Well, I think we're seeing a broader softening in EVs just in general. There's a lot of competition out there. I think a lot of consumers, the early adopters already have, they have their EVs. So right now you're in that sort of that canyon between the early adopters, and then that more broader mainstream adoption.

I think right now it's probably going to be slow for the rest of the year. I think what you're going to see is it's not that EV sales are necessarily falling. They're just not growing as fast perhaps as they were in the previous year. Right now market share is about 8% for pure electric vehicles. And I would expect it to hover around that for about the rest of the year.