Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee weighed in on the ongoing autoworkers union debate, saying that a union for workers at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen would be a bad idea.

Lee said at the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) for the second time since 2019, right before a vote failed, that unionization would not be beneficial to any party.

“I believe it would be a big mistake for those workers to risk their future by giving up the freedom to decide it themselves and hand that over to a negotiator on their behalf. I think it’d be a mistake for them to vote to join a union. We’ve seen union decline in in many places all across this country for the last decades,” Lee said.

“And we’ve seen plants close that made the decision to go union. So I hope that’s not what happens here. I think every every worker is interested in certainly their wages in their work environment and the safety and they alone can decide what that environment is. Encourage them to decide that for themselves, and to keep that under their own control.”

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Isaac Meadows, an assembly worker at Volkswagen and one of the volunteers who is pushing for the union, commented to WTVC in Tennessee as well:

“We’re working to form our union in order to build a more sustainable future for VW workers and our families. We know that we can improve our jobs in ways that help the long-term success of our community here in Chattanooga. This is our decision, not a decision for people who do not work in the plant, and politicians are not going to tell us what to do,” Meadows said.

The UAW has said they will be holding union votes on April 17, 18, and 19.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP