BERLIN (Reuters) -- Volkswagen will not grant immediate union recognition to its U.S. workers and may take months to reach agreement on a German-style works council for its factory Chattanooga, Tennessee, company officials said.
Talks with the UAW are likely to continue into next year, said Sebastian Patta, human resources chief at the factory.
VW must resolve some complex legal issues before setting up a U.S. works council, Patta said on Wednesday. "This is a very sensitive subject and we have only just started the dialogue."
VW Chattanooga is a focus for United Auto Workers leader Bob King's struggle to organize at foreign-owned U.S. plants and bolster a union membership that has dwindled steadily from its 1970s peak.
VW told Chattanooga staff earlier this month it was in talks with the UAW on representation. The union announced last week it had collected signed cards from a majority of the plant's 2,500 workers backing recognition.
But VW still has to decide whether to recognize the union on the basis of the card count or go ahead with a ballot on whether to recognize the union.
Granting recognition on the basis of the card count is "not a priority," said a Germany-based VW official involved in the discussions, echoing the Chattanooga executive's remarks. He declined to be identified because the talks are confidential.
VW declined comment on the card count or the company's next move. U.S. operations chief Jonathan Browning said earlier this month the union negotiations "may or may not conclude with formal third-party representation" that would ultimately depend on a full vote.
A win in the U.S. South, traditionally hostile to organized labor, could open the door to similar UAW efforts at plants operated by BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama.
