Governors of six Southern states have warned workers against joining the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in an effort to stop unionization in their states' auto factories.
In a joint statement released Tuesday, the governors of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas wrote: "We have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by."
"The reality is companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunity... Unionization would certainly put our states' jobs in jeopardy - in fact, in this year already, all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs," they added.
6 Southern States' Governors Issued Warning Before Volkswagen Chattanooga Factory Set to Vote on UAW Membership
The six Republican governors issued the joint statement one day before a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is scheduled to vote on becoming a member of the UAW.
Workers who support unionization at the Volkswagen factory have recently voiced their expectation that the vote would be successful. Workers at the plant will start voting on Wednesday, and it will last three days, with results expected on Friday.
Tennessee Republicans have been instrumental in blocking two UAW efforts to unionize the Volkswagen plant-in 2014 and 2019-and have recently ramped up their opposition via public statements and press conferences.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said joining the union would be "a big mistake" during a visit to Chattanooga earlier this month.
Republican Governors Doubting UAW Leadership Can Reflect Their Values
According to The Washington Post, the governors also said that the UAW has long been associated with the Democratic Party and has backed President Joe Biden. They seemed to frame the union's campaign as a move to support Biden's reelection campaign.
"We have serious reservations that the UAW leadership can represent our values. They proudly call themselves democratic socialists and seem more focused on helping President Biden get reelected than on the autoworker jobs being cut at plants they already represent," they noted.
An economist who has closely studied unionization in the South said the governors' remarks, which she described as "unprecedented and shocking," discouraged workers from exercising their legal right to form or join a union.
Stephen Silvia, a professor at American University, told the Washington Post that "it implies that the governors fear that the UAW will prevail in the upcoming union recognition election and that UAW success could upend their economic models built on relatively low pay and minimal worker voice."
Volkswagen previously said it would respect the workers' right to vote on whether to join the UAW union.
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