Yolanda Peoples works in assembly at Volkswagen. She is one of the more than 30% of workers to join the UAW.
"I am a third-generation UAW. My grandfather and my father were both UAW members. I come from a long family of UAW members, so I know the benefits of having them have your back,” she says with a smile.
Peoples’ father has been retired for 15 years and needed help with probate issues. He called his UAW steward, and Peoples says they jumped in to help.
"For me, it's more of having a voice at Volkswagen. Volkswagen itself is a wonderful place to work, we just want a voice to be able to make decisions as far as day to day as far as safety, as far as our benefits, as far as our wages,” she says.
Peoples says other Volkswagen plants are unionized, and she wants the same opportunity.
In 2014 and 2019, workers in Chattanooga denied forming a UAW union. Peoples say she has seen interest grow.
“I've been there for the first two times we've tried to get the UAW, to know that we got over 1,000 cards in less than a week. This is amazing,” she says.
She says they are in the plant talking to people, and they're excited.
They were motivated by the recent UAW strike, negotiations, and settlements with the Big Three.
“They all got these fantastic contracts. It motivated us to say, 'This too could be us.' We're autoworkers as well and we deserve to stand as one as autoworkers, no matter who you work for,” she says.
To learn more about their campaign, visit UAW.
Last month, Volkswagen announced an 11% pay raise for production team members.
Volkswagen statement:
“Volkswagen is proud of the world-class production environment we have created in Chattanooga. Our attractive compensation program—including a recent pay increase of 11%—and our comprehensive benefits and development opportunities reflect our constant commitment to our team members.
We believe in frequent, transparent, and two-way dialogue with our people to help them stay informed and connected and help shape our world-class assembly environment. We also respect the right of our workers to determine who should represent their interests in the workplace.
We are massively invested in our people, the city of Chattanooga, and the State of Tennessee. Since 2008, we have invested more than $4.3 billion in our Chattanooga assembly plant, which has led to more than 125,000 direct and indirect jobs for hard-working Americans.
We are proud to be a part of the automotive growth and innovation happening in the American South. In the past two years, we added more than 1,200 additional production jobs and an additional shift to assemble the all-electric ID.4 SUV. Our supplier partners have invested a further $2.7 billion for the localized ID.4, creating thousands more direct jobs.”
