Tennessee

Tennessee Volkswagen workers to vote on union membership in test of UAW's plan to expand its ranks

Published

9 months ago

April 19, 2024

Tennessee Volkswagen workers to vote on union membership in test of UAW's plan to expand its ranks

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers’ ambitious drive to expand its reach to nonunion factories across the South and elsewhere faces a key test Friday night, when workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will finish voting on whether to join the union.

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The UAW’s ranks in the auto industry have dwindled over the years as foreign-based companies with nonunion U.S. plants have sold increasingly more vehicles.

Twice in recent years, workers at the Chattanooga plant have rejected union membership. Most recently, they handed the UAW a narrow defeat in 2019 just as federal prosecutors were breaking up a bribery-and-embezzlement scandal at the union.

But this time, the UAW is operating under new leadership, directly elected by its members for the first time and basking in a successful confrontation with Detroit’s major automakers. The union’s pugnacious new president, Shawn Fain, was elected on a platform of cleaning up after the scandal and turning more confrontational with automakers. An emboldened Fain, backed by President Joe Biden, led the union in a series of strikes last fall against Detroit’s automakers that resulted in lucrative new contracts.

The new contracts raised union wages by a substantial one-third, arming Fain and his organizers with enticing new offers to present to workers at Volkswagen and other companies.

“I’m very confident,” said Isaac Meadows, an assembly line worker in Chattanooga who helped lead the union organizing drive at the plant. “The excitement is really high right now. We’ve put a lot of work into it, a lot of face-to-face conversations with co-workers from our volunteer committee.”

The UAW’s supporters have faced stout resistance, though, from Volkswagen, which argues that union membership isn’t necessary. The company contends that its pay levels are competitive for the Chattanooga area and that it treats its employees well. The factory’s 4,300 production workers make Atlas SUVs and the ID.4 electric vehicle at the 3.8 million-square-foot (353,353-square-meter) plant.

Six Southern governors, including Tennessee’s Bill Lee, have lined up against union membership. They warned the workers in a joint statement last week that joining the UAW could cost them their jobs and threaten the region’s economic progress.

Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who studies the UAW, said there is a good chance that this election could bring the union a historic victory. Public opinion, Masters said, is now generally more aligned with unions than it was in the past.

To approve membership, though, the workers in Chattanooga will have to look past the warnings that joining the union, with the accompanying higher wages, would lead to job losses. Since the UAW’s new contracts were signed in the fall with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, all three companies have cut a relatively small number of factory positions. But Ford CEO Jim Farley has said that his company will have to rethink where it builds future vehicles because of the strike.

“While the UAW’s reputation has improved as a result of new leadership and contracts, it’s still associated with a decline in the auto industry,” Masters said.

Shortly after the Detroit contracts were ratified, Volkswagen and other nonunion companies handed their workers big pay raises. Fain characterized those wage increases as the “UAW bump” and asserted that they were intended to keep the union out of the plants.

Last fall, Volkswagen raised factory pay by 11%, lifting top wages to around $29 an hour, or about $60,000 a year, excluding benefits and an attendance bonus. VW said its pay exceeds the median household income for the Chattanooga area, which was $54,480 last May, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

But under the UAW contracts, top production workers at GM, for instance, now earn $36 an hour, or about $75,000 a year excluding benefits and profit sharing, which ranged from $10,400 at Ford to $13,860 at Stellantis this year. By the end of the contract in 2028, top-scale GM workers would make over $89,000.

Zach Costello, a worker who trains new employees at the Volkswagen plant, said pay shouldn’t be benchmarked against typical wages in the Chattanooga area.

“How about we decide what we’re worth, and we get paid what we’re worth?” he asked.

VW asserts that its factories are safer than the industry average, based on data reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And the company contends that it considers workers’ preferences in scheduling. It noted that it recently agreed to change the day that third-shift workers start their week so that they have Fridays and Saturdays off.

But Meadows, whose job involves preparing vehicles for the assembly line after the auto bodies are painted, said the company adds overtime or sends workers home early whenever it wants.

“People are just kind of fed up with it,” he said.

VW, he argued, doesn’t report all injuries to the government, instead often blaming pre-existing conditions that a worker might have. The union has filed complaints of unfair labor practices, including allegations that the company barred workers from discussing unions during work time and restricted the distribution of union materials.

Volkswagen said in statements that it supports the right to vote on union representation, and it denied the union’s allegations.

If the union prevails in the vote at the VW plant, it would mark the first time that the UAW has represented workers at a foreign-owned automaking plant in the South. It would not, however, be the first union auto assembly plant in the South. The UAW represents workers at two Ford assembly plants in Kentucky and two GM factories in Tennessee and Texas, as well as some heavy-truck manufacturing plants.

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East Tennessee saw 118 crashes overnight during Friday snow, TDOT says

Published

8 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

East Tennessee saw 118 crashes overnight during Friday snow, TDOT says

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The East Tennessee region saw 118 crashes from midnight Friday into Saturday morning, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Mark Nagi.

Ice and snow bought to the area by an early year winter storm caused many of those crashes. The storm created conditions that Nagi said are still dangerous for drivers.

Previous Coverage: THP, TDOT warns of possibility of treacherous conditions after winter storm hits East Tennessee

“People just need to understand that for the next few days, they’re certainly going to see patches of snow and ice on a lot of our roads,” Nagi said Saturday morning.

He said his department pretreated state roads, but cold temperatures could create problems for the next few days.

“Yeah, our crews pretreated roadways all day Thursday, and they have been on the job since the early morning hours yesterday,“ Nagi said. ”The challenges you run into is that there’s going to be a lot of refreezing, more than likely on our interstates and state routes.”

Previous Coverage: TDOT snowplow overturns on snowy TN highway

With that in mind, Nagi said, staying off the roads isn’t just about keeping drivers safe; Nagi said crews need the space too.

“It’s extremely dangerous work that our crews do each and every day, and especially during a winter weather event. Over in Smith County, there was a semi that hit one of our trucks,” Nagi said, adding that no one was hurt. “That’s why if folks can stay at home, please do. But if you do have to be on the roads, please give our crews the extra room that they need to to do their jobs.”

The Tennessee Highway Patrol gave their own stats Saturday morning. According to THP, the agency received 850 phone calls Friday and Saturday. Responses broke down like this from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday:

Calls: 382
Crashes with injuries: 12
Crashes with no injuries: 51
Motor assist: 140
Abandoned vehicles: 21
Obstruction in roadway: 3
Disabled vehicle: 1

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Tennessee vs. Texas Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Saturday, Jan. 11

Published

20 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee vs. Texas Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Saturday, Jan. 11

Tennessee lost its first game of the season at Florida in blowout fashion, but will turn around to face Texas, who is in the midst of a grueling part of its first SEC schedule.

There are few easy games in the SEC, and Texas is learning that quickly, losing its first two games of league play to Texas A&M and Auburn. Now, the team faces the elite defense of Tennessee, who is looking to bounce back off a loss on the road?

Can the Vols take care of business in Austin, or will a battle tested Texas team keep up and pull an upset?

Here’s our betting preview.

Spread

Moneyline

Total: 132.5 (Over -115/Under -105)

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Tennessee

Chaz Lanier: The North Florida transfer continues to provide sound floor spacing for the Vols, shooting 44% from beyond the arc as the team’s primary shot taker. However, with a high 3-point rate comes some stinkers, like the one against Florida in which he made only one of his nine 3-point attempts. The Texas defense is stout at limiting three-point attempts as Lanier will need to put together a complete performance on the road.

Texas

Arthuer Kaluma: The Kansas State transfer had his best game of the season in a tight loss to Auburn, scoring 34 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field, grabbing eight rebounds in the process. The forward has been shooting lights out from the perimeter this season – 52% – as he looks to guide Texas to a signature win.

I like Texas to hang around in this one with the team’s ability to break down the Tennessee offense in isolation situations and also have several capable three-point shooters on the floor.

The Vols compact defense forces teams to shoot from the perimeter at a high rate, the Vols are 341st in opponent 3-point rate as opponents hoist nearly 47% of shots from beyond the arc. While Texas likes to get its offense on the interior with players like Kaluma, Tre Johnson and Jordan Pope creating their own shot, the team is shooting 40% from deep this season.

Meanwhile, it’s the opposite for the other side of the floor, as Texas funnels teams inside to the rim and denies the perimeter. Tennessee’s offense is based around its off ball cutting and ball movement, but Texas does a good job of denying that and locking up at the rim, top 10 in field goal percentage allowed near the cup, per Haslametrics.

I think this game profiles to be a defensive minded affair with Texas having the better one-on-one shot creators to keep this one within a few possessions.

PICK: Texas +6.5

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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Ex-Tennessee Titans star had CTE at time of death, researchers confirm

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Ex-Tennessee Titans star had CTE at time of death, researchers confirm

Former Tennessee Titans star Frank Wycheck had stage III CTE when he died at age 52 at his home in Tennessee on Dec. 9, 2023, his family said Thursday.

CTE – chronic traumatic encephalopathy – is a degenerative brain disorder that happens due to repeated head impacts, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Wycheck, an 11-year NFL veteran tight end, died after an apparent fall at his home in Chattanooga. His brain was studied by researchers at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center, which confirmed he had stage III CTE, one below stage IV, the most severe diagnosis.

“We witnessed our father becoming increasingly isolated and experiencing drastic mood swings. He became more impulsive, and often inconsistent and undependable,” Wycheck’s daughter, Deanna Wycheck Szabo, said in a statement. “Now in hindsight, I understand that he was suffering from the symptoms of CTE due to the repeated trauma his brain and body endured over 11 seasons in the NFL.”

The Wycheck family issued support for continued research and education around CTE for NFL players and their families.

“Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father’s desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE,” Wycheck Szabo said. “Our hope is that NFL alumni, who believe they are suffering from CTE, will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state. With on-going CTE research and diagnosis’, we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment.”

Prior to his death, Wycheck was also an advocate for CTE research, even noting he believed he suffered from the disease.

“Some people have heads made of concrete, and it doesn’t really affect some of those guys,” he told researchers in 2017, per AP. “But CTE is real. I know I’m suffering through it, and it’s been a struggle and I feel for all the guys out there that are going through this.”

Wycheck was a three-time NFL Pro Bowl selection across 11 seasons for the Titans, Houston Oilers and Washington. He finished his NFL career with 505 receptions for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns in 155 games, including 135 starts.

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