Employees of a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to form the FIRST autoworkers union in the Southern US. It’s no small feat in a part of the country that has been notoriously anti-union. How has the South managed to scare away organized labor since the Civil War? Are labor unions finally finding a foothold there now? And why have unions been in decline across the whole US in recent years? Max and Erin dive into the politics, racism and foreign influence behind it all to uncover why it’s taken so long for collective bargaining to catch on down south.
SOURCES
UAW strikes at General Motors plant in Texas as union goes after automakers' cash cows | AP News
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Manufacturing jobs are defying expectations - The Economist
Union Membership, 1939 and 1953
Textile Union Fight to Organize Stevens Plants Shifts to Greenville, S.C. - The New York Times
The UAW wants to recruit Southern auto workers. Here’s why that failed in the past
In a seminal development for Wisconsin's economy, manufacturing has begun returning home
Nissan attacked for one of 'nastiest anti-union campaigns' in modern US history
How the South Became Anti-Union - Flagpole
Union organizing effort and success in the U.S., 1948–2004 - ScienceDirect