Abe Walker, "Reassembling the UAW: Insurgency, Contention, and the Struggle for Unionism in the American South" (Temple UP, 2026)

About this episode

Dr. Abe Walker discusses the challenges and successes of the UAW's organizing campaign at Volkswagen's Chattanooga Assembly Plant.

When Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Assembly Plant opened in 2012, the United Auto Workers were excited by the golden opportunity to organize in the anti-union South, where their efforts had been routinely thwarted. However, it took ten years and several attempts before the UAW was successful in unionizing the plant. Reassembling the UAW: Insurgency, Contention, and the Struggle for Unionism in the American South (Temple UP, 2026) explains why. Dr. Abe Walker chronicles the organizing campaign from its origin in 2014 to the union’s breakthrough victory in 2024, illustrating what went wrong—and what went right—along the way. Walker provides a systematic analysis of the strategic challenges and tactical shifts, showing the patterns that persisted across three election cycles while highlighting their differences, from global-level alliances to local labor issues. Reassembling the UAW also demonstrates how rebel rank-and-file workers ousted the old-guard leadership and transformed the UAW into a militant union to achieve results. Ultimately, Walker offers valuable lessons for organizational strategy, the power of collective action, and the future of the labor movement. This interview was…

People in this episode

Host: Miranda Melcher

Guest: Dr Abe Walker

Topics covered

• unionism
• labor movement
• UAW
• American South

Keywords

• Volkswagen
• Chattanooga
• labor issues
• collective action

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Reassembling the UAW

Books & works: Reassembling the UAW: Insurgency, Contention, and the Struggle for Unionism in the American South

Places: South

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