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Volkswagen workers vote on union in Tennessee — a major test for organized labor
The United Auto Workers is hoping the third time proves the charm in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the labor group seeks to make inroads in Southern states, where employers and elected officials have long resisted unionization.
As the final ballots are cast Friday by 4,300 Volkswagen workers deciding on whether to join the UAW, expectations are running high among labor advocates that the union will prevail after two failed attempts.
“A lot is riding on what is taking place now and what will be decided tonight,” Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told CBS MoneyWatch. “This is a pivotal movement for the workers in Chattanooga, but much more broadly for workers in the South and for organized labor more generally.”
The chances for a UAW win seem high, given that about 70% of the plant’s workers pledged to vote in favor of unionization before it requested the vote, according to the union. Voting that began on Wednesday concludes Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time, with ballot counting expected to take a few hours.
The UAW set its sights on organizing foreign automakers after a historic six-week strike last fall against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis led to major wage gains.
“If they can’t organize at Volkswagen, you’d have to question their ability to organize at any of these Southern auto plants,” John Logan, chair of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told CBS MoneyWatch.
A regional foothold?
The UAW for decades has unsuccessfully attempted to organize at auto factories in the South, making progress only at a few heavy truck and bus plants in the region. The vote is the UAW’s third try at the plant, where workers narrowly spurned union membership in both 2014 and 2019. The UAW was also defeated in a 2017 vote at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi.
A UAW win would give the union a key foothold in the region, where organizing usually means fighting not only the company but the entire community, including the political and business establishment, Logan said.
Earlier in the week, the governors of six states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — decried the unionization effort, saying it jeopardized jobs in their states.
If the UAW prevails, the Volkswagen factory would be the only unionized foreign commercial carmaker in the U.S. It would also be the first auto plant to join the UAW since its action targeting the Big Three automakers in Detroit.
Boosted by Big Three strike
“Interest in the UAW has been fueled by spectacular gains in the Detroit Three contract talks last year. Almost all 13 of the non-union automakers have boosted wages to diminish interest in organizing and these gains are widely referred to as the ‘UAW bump,’ Shaiken said. “Paradoxically, automakers are confirming the UAW does deliver.”
In the case of Germany’s Volkswagen, which has unionized workers around the globe, the opposition to the UAW’s efforts has been less fierce than those seen with other corporate entities, Logan noted.
In fact, the Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen’s sole facility of about 120 globally that does not have some form of employee representation.
“We respect our workers’ right to a democratic process and to determine who should represent their interests. We fully support an NLRB vote so every team member has a chance to a secret ballot vote on this important decision. Volkswagen is proud of our working environment in Chattanooga that provides some of the best paying jobs in the area,” the company stated.
The VW vote will be followed by another election next month at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama.
A new cyberattack is targeting iPhone users, with criminals attempting to obtain individuals’ Apple IDs in a “phishing” campaign, security software company Symantec said in an alert Monday.
Cyber criminals are sending text messages to iPhone users in the U.S. that appear to be from Apple, but are in fact an attempt at stealing victims’ personal credentials.
“Phishing actors continue to target Apple IDs due to their widespread use, which offers access to a vast pool of potential victims,” Symantec said. “These credentials are highly valued, providing control over devices, access to personal and financial information, and potential revenue through unauthorized purchases.”
Consumers are also more likely to trust communications that appear to come from a trusted brand like Apple, warned Symantec, which is owned by Broadcom, a maker of semiconductors and infrastructure software.
The malicious SMS messages appear to come from Apple and encourage recipients to click a link and sign in to their iCloud accounts. For example, a phishing text could say: “Apple important request iCloud: Visit signin[.]authen-connexion[.]info/icloud to continue using your services.” Recipients are also asked to complete a CAPTCHA challenge in order to appear legitimate, before they’re directed to a fake iCloud login page.
Such cyberattacks are commonly referred to as “smishing” schemes in which criminals use fake text messages from purportedly reputable organizations, rather than email, to lure people into sharing personal information, such as account passwords and credit card data.
How to protect yourself
Be cautious about opening any text messages that appear to be sent from Apple. Always check the source of the message — if it’s from a random phone number, the iPhone maker is almost certainly not likely not to be the sender. iPhone users should also avoid clicking on links inviting people to access their iCloud account; instead, go to login pages directly.
Apple urges users to always enable two-factor authentication for Apple ID for extra security and to make it harder to access to your account from another device. It is “designed to make sure that you’re the only person who can access your account,” Apple said.
The Federal Trade Commission also recommends setting up your computer and mobile phone so that security software is updated automatically.
While it’s hard for young people to resist the appeal of large cities and their hefty paychecks, smaller cities can sometimes offer more job prospects and overall affordability, making them better picks for new graduates.
For those reasons, the top city for new degree holders isn’t New York or San Francisco, or any other similarly popular metro area whose main drawback is its high cost of living, according to a new study from the ADP Research Institute (ADPRI). Taking into account a number of factors, including average wages, overall affordability and hiring rates, Raleigh, North Carolina, takes the No. 1 spot on the management services company’s list of best places for young graduates to start their careers. For its ranking, researchers looked at ADP data on more than 4 million 20- to 29-year olds at more than 27,000 U.S. employers, from January 2019 through April 2024.
“The basic idea is these are the questions new grads ask when planning their job search. They ask, ‘Where am I likely to find a job? What kind of salary will I earn?’ and ‘How far will it go?'” said Ben Hanowell, ADPRI’s director of people analytics research. “We put the three things together to find out where they can find the best combination of wages, affordability and robust hiring.”
Researchers at ADPRI found that Raleigh is relatively affordable, offers wages above the 80th percentile, and has the best hiring rate for likely new graduates of all the metro areas studied. Nicknamed the research triangle, Raleigh sits between three universities and is home to roughly 300 science and technology companies.
Great average salary, but can I even get a job?
The study takes into account that in some cities, though young workers could command higher wages, job opportunities are fewer than in other places and the cost of living is high, meaning that their salaries wouldn’t take them very far. As a result, these types of cities were deemed less desirable than those with decent salaries, but plentiful job opportunities for workers with less experience and relatively low costs of living.
“There are metro areas where you could command high wages as a recent grad, but they’re not affordable and hiring isn’t robust, so that’s the trade-off you’re making,” Hanowell said.
As an example, he pointed to Seattle, Washington, where wages are higher than 87% of the 55 biggest U.S. metro areas, but has a low hiring rate compared to other cities and is relatively unaffordable.
“The median wage is an estimated $56,000, but once that’s adjusted for the cost of living, it feels like $49,000. That’s one way to look at these trade-offs,” Hanowell said.
By contrast, Tucson, Arizona, has a hiring rate that’s greater than more than three-quarters of other metro areas, and is also more affordable than 84% of cities. “That’s the opposite end of the trade-off,” Hanowell said.
What’s the sweet spot?
To be sure, the most suitable city for a new graduate depends on their individual preferences. For example, one individual might be willing to take a chance trying to land a job in a metro area that’s expensive and has a low hiring rate, but where they can eventually command a high wage.
“They could think of the job they land as a stepping stone to greater things,” Hanowell said. “Whereas another grad might care about affordability to start building their savings early, or they are risk-averse and want to know that the place they’re going is a place where they can find a job.”
Surprises among rankings
When wages, affordability and hiring rates are considered, four metro areas stand out as the most promising places for young grads to begin their careers, according to ADPRI data.
“What’s surprising is these areas are not the traditional tech hubs or financial hubs you might think about for college grads,” Hanowell said.
Lower-ranked cities were mostly dinged in the wage and job prospects category. While they may be relatively affordable places to live, wages and hiring rates are low. Take Rochester, New York, for example, which has the lowest hiring rate of all 55 metros for likely college graduates. Although its wages are in the 13% percentile among metro areas, and it’s more affordable than nearly 70% of locales studied, its lackluster job prospects make it undesirable.
Here are the top 10 best and worst cities for new graduates, according to ADPRI.
Top 10 best cities for new graduates
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Austin, Texas
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- New York, New York
- San Francisco, California
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Indianapolis, Indiana
Top 10 worst cities for new graduates
- Rochester, New York
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Fresno, California
- Portland, Oregon
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Seattle, Washington
- Salt Lake City, Utah
Click here for the full rankings.
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