Joy and angst: Reaction from the UAW's historic win at VW's Chattanooga plant

The UAW's successful unionization drive at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga produced emotional reactions from those on both sides of the effort.

About 73 percent of the 3,613 workers who cast ballots were in favor of joining the UAW, according to the National Labor Relations Board, which must still certify the results. The victory followed two failed attempts in the past decade to organize the Tennessee plant.

The election was widely seen as a barometer for the union's ability to succeed in its $40 million effort to organize 13 automakers with U.S. assembly plants across the country. Workers at Mercedes-Benz's assembly plant in Vance, Ala., will hold an election May 13-17.

A number of Democratic politicians with notable followings on the social media platform X — including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — posted messages of congratulations and support. Democratic Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Sherrod Brown of Ohio also praised the election results.

Not all reaction was celebratory, however.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was one of six Southern Republican governors who publicly opposed the UAW in an April 16 statement. Lee, speaking Monday in Gallatin, Tenn., near Nashville, said the Chattanooga vote's outcome was a "a loss for workers," according to the Associated Press.

"I think it's unwise to put your future in somebody else's hands," Lee said. "But those workers made that decision based on the individual circumstances of that plant. I think it was a mistake, but that's their choice."

President Joe Biden, in a Friday statement released by the White House, congratulated the VW workers and chided the Republican governors for their opposition.

"Six Republican governors wrote a letter attempting to influence workers' votes by falsely claiming that a successful vote would jeopardize jobs in their states," Biden said in the statement. "Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: There is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose."

Volkswagen Group's works council chief Daniela Cavallo also posted a message of congratulations from Germany.

Chattanooga was the only VW plant worldwide without some form of worker representation. Half of the automaker's global supervisory board is made up of labor representatives.

"Standing together, united by the powerful idea of unions, only makes us stronger," Cavallo said in a statement. "Welcome to the unionized part of the global Volkswagen family!"