NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Top Tennessee Republicans are predicting economic harm if workers at Volkswagen's car assembly plant in Chattanooga vote to unionize.
With 1,700 workers scheduled to vote June 12-14, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Gov. Bill Lee are following their predecessors' blueprint.
In 2014, then-U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and then-Gov. Bill Haslam helped convince Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga to vote 712-626 against unionization with United Auto Workers.
Lee argues it's harder to recruit companies in a state with significant union activity.
The union has questioned why Lee headlined a January announcement at the Spring Hill General Motors plant, which has 3,000 UAW-represented workers.
A smaller group of Chattanooga workers voted for representation in 2015, but Volkswagen refused to negotiate.
Other than that vote, UAW hasn't fully organized a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally anti-union South.
