Stephen Misaha

The new contract includes both pay bumps and lower health care costs.

Workers will get an immediate 5% pay bump that will go up to 20% over the next four years and cost of living adjustments on top of that.

Health care premiums will also be cut by about 20% and won't go up for the next four years.

It's taken nearly two years of negotiations to get to this contract for the roughly 3,200 workers in Chattanooga.

They voted to join the UAW in 2024, giving the union a rare foothold in the South, where the vast majority of car factories are not unionized.

The union's other southern campaigns have fizzled, but it's hoping this contract will help recruit other southern workers.