The United Auto Workers are claiming a "historic" victory by successfully unionizing 164 skilled trades employees at the Volkswagen Chattanooga, Tenn. plant.  The total number of workers at the plant is 1,450. The successful membership drive is the result of a change in tactics by the union, who lost an organizing vote of all hourly workers at the plant last year.  By getting a foot in the door with skilled trades employees, they believe it will be easier to unionize the entire plant. Reuters: While the unit of skilled trades workers who maintain the assembly machinery are a fraction of the hourly work force, observers said the victory was significant and could serve as a launching pad for the union’s efforts to organize other foreign-owned plants in the south. “It gives the UAW a significant new tool in trying to organize the foreign automakers in the south. Symbolically, it’s going to be huge,” said Dennis Cuneo, a...(Read Full Post)