Workers of Volkswagen Tennessee plant refile petition for union vote

Previous bid put off for 1,700 workers

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.  (Reuters) — The United Auto Workers (UAW) union said on Wednesday it filed a new petition for a union election at Volkswagen AG’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, after the U.S. agency in charge of enforcing labour law dismissed a previous one.

Earlier today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asked workers at the Chattanooga plant to refile their petition, a day after three Democratic U.S. senators urged the German automaker’s U.S. unit to drop efforts to delay the election.

Volkswagen had won a bid to put off a union vote for 1,700 workers at the plant earlier this month.

“Volkswagen has continued to use legal games to aggressively deny its workers the right to vote for years,” the UAW said in a statement.

“It’s ridiculous and shows how broken the rights of workers are under our labour laws. But we will be on the NLRB’s doorstep immediately to file again and demand a speedy election.”

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