Yolanda Peoples has tried for more than a decade to convince her co-workers at Volkswagen’s factory in the southern state of Tennessee that joining the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) would pay off in increased job security, higher wages and a more comfortable retirement.

Colleagues in Chattanooga have twice rejected the idea.

Now, as her factory faces another vote on the question, this daughter and granddaughter of UAW members thinks she might finally have made her case.

“The whole atmosphere feels different,” she said. “They understand more about what we’re fighting for.”

The election, which involves roughly 4,300 workers and starts on 17 April, is the first to emerge from a campaign UAW leaders announced last year to try to win new members at 13 foreign-owned car factories based in the south.

The share of workers represented by unions has fallen steadily in the US since the 1980s.

But the pandemic ushered in an unusually hot jobs market and rapid rise in living costs, emboldening workers across the country to make demands.

The number of mass strikes and petitions from workers hoping to join unions jumped in 2022 and 2023, drawing in Hollywood actors, UPS delivery drivers, Starbucks baristas, nurses, casino workers and others.

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