CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Three Volkswagen employees have withdrawn their federal lawsuit challenging what they called “a backroom deal” between the United Auto Workers and the automobile manufacturer to create a union at the Chattanooga plant.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported the workers voluntarily withdrew their lawsuit Friday.
The National Right to Work Foundation, which represented the workers, said the withdrawal was prompted by Volkswagen and UAW attorneys’ concessions in legal papers that the union cannot seek another election until sometime next year.
Mark Mix, the foundation’s president, said the workers and the group successfully defended the result of the February election, in which the union lost an organizing vote at the Chattanooga plant.
The employees alleged that in a pre-election agreement, Volkswagen gave the union access to names and facilities at the Chattanooga plant in exchange for the union holding down costs if it won the organizing vote at the factory.
Volkswagen and the UAW denied the charges and sought a dismissal of the lawsuit.