Voting began early Wednesday morning for workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga Tennessee plant to decide whether or not they will be represented by the United Auto Workers.

Results are expected Friday night and if workers vote for the union, it will be a historic win for the UAW adding thousands of members to its ranks.

"This is a defining moment for the UAW," said University of California-Berkeley Professor Emeritus Harley Shaiken. "A victory really sets a precedent and breaks the glass ceiling that you can't organize auto factories in the South."

In a sign that the UAW has a strong chance of success after repeated attempts, a "super majority" of workers at the plant signed on to petition the National Labor Relations Board for the union election.

Following the momentum of the UAW strike at the Detroit Three automakers that won wage and other gains for UAW members, the union is looking not only to organize Volkswagen but other foreign automaker plants located in the southern United States.

In a statement on the UAW website, the union said the Volkswagen plant election "marks the latest breakthrough in the national movement of non-union autoworkers organizing to join the UAW. The movement was inspired by the record contracts UAW members won during last year's Stand Up Strike against the Big Three auto companies. "

The UAW added that more than 10,000 non-union autoworkers at Volkswagen; Mercedes in Vance, Ala.; Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala.; and Toyota in Troy, Mo.

"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 vote in privacy on this important decision," Volkswagen said in a statement when the vote was scheduled.

The UAW has launched a campaign to organize 13 automakers across the United States.

Five southern Republican governors from Alabama Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas oppose the worker organizing effort at plants located in their states.

In a letter Tuesday they argued that workers electing to join unions to improve their wages and working conditions "threaten our jobs and the values we live by."

They claimed in their letter that, "every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation."

The same foreign automakers doing business in the southern U.S. operate plants that remain open, unionized and profitable in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

The governors called unions "special interests" while not referring to the foreign automakers as special interests.

Workers have an opportunity to vote for or against unions under the National Labor Relations Act. Workers have no vote when it comes to foreign auto companies setting up shop in their communities.

According to the UAW a majority of Mercedes workers in Vance, Ala., have also signed union support cards to petition the NLRB for an election at that plant.

Author Steven Silva said a combination of political circumstances, UAW President Sean Fein's leadership and company messaging have created a better environment for the UAW than in past organizing efforts.

"This is by far the best chance for the UAW out of all its drives at Chattanooga," Silvia said.

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