A roundup of what labor experts, UAW leaders, union supporters and opponents, and others are saying about the union's organizing setback at Volkswagen AG's assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.:
"If you open up a plant you got 3,000 jobs, and you have 15,000, 20,000 people applying for the jobs. For a lot of these workers the non-union job they have right now is a whole lot better than what they had."
-- Merle Black, professor of politics at Emory University in Atlanta, noting how high unemployment remains a challenge for union organizers in the U.S. South, and may have swayed the vote.
"Volkswagen's a class act. They really are. They set a standard in the United States ... We're not leaving Chattanooga ... It took seven years to organize Ford. So I'll be around for the next five."
-- Dennis Williams, the secretary-treasurer of the UAW. Williams is expected to be elected the union's next president in June.
"If the union can't win [in Chattanooga], it can't win anywhere."
-- Steve Silvia, a professor of economics and trade at American University, in The Wall Street Journal.
"Look at what happened to the auto manufacturers in Detroit and how they struggled. They all shared one huge factor: the UAW. If you look at how the UAW's membership has plunged, that shows they're doing a lot wrong."
-- Mike Jarvis, a three-year employee at the VW plant, in The New York Times.