DETROIT, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers gained a partial and unconventional recognition from Volkswagen AG after proving to the company that it represents at least 45 percent of workers at the company's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a company spokesman said on Monday.
It is the first time the UAW has been recognized at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the South, but it is short of the UAW's goal of attaining exclusive bargaining rights for all of the plant's 1,500 blue-collar workers. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Chris Reese)