By William Boston in Berlin and Ben Foldy in Detroit 

The United Auto Workers suffered another crushing defeat at Volkswagen AG's factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., as workers rebuffed for a second time the union's efforts to organize the plant's blue-collar workforce.

The results announced Friday night showed workers voting 833-776 against joining the UAW, which has endured years of membership declines and struggled to expand its influence in the industry beyond Detroit's Big Three auto companies. Roughly 1,600 ballots were cast in the three days of voting, the company said.

The defeat also extends a multiyear losing streak in the union's attempts to organize its first foreign-owned car factory in the U.S. South. While the foreign-car companies build millions of vehicles each year in the U.S., none of their assembly plants are unionized. Most reside in right-to-work states, where antiunion sentiment runs strong.

After years of trying, the UAW has little to show for its efforts, said Art Schwartz, president of consulting firm Labor and Economics Associates.

Frank Fischer, the plant's manager, said in a statement the company respects the employees' decision and would accept the results

The union's membership, which hit a peak of 1.5 million workers in 1979, has fallen to about 400,000 last year as U.S. auto companies closed domestic plants and moved more factory work to Mexico and other countries where labor is cheaper.

The UAW last tried to organize Volkswagen's only U.S. auto plant in 2014, holding a unionization vote that was narrowly defeated, 712 to 626. Since then, it has has established a union hall, UAW Local 42, near the Chattanooga factory and won a vote to organize a smaller group of skilled tradespeople at the facility -- but the UAW agreed to disavow that group in order to hold the new election.

Volkswagen, one of the world's largest car companies by sales, has union representation at its other factories world-wide except in China, where there the state controls labor markets. Half of the company's supervisory board consists of labor leaders from Germany's powerful IG Metall trade union. The Tennessee factory, which opened in 2011 as the U.S. auto market rebounded following a recession, builds Passat sedans and a new, large SUV model called the Atlas.

During the 2014 vote, Volkswagen worked with the UAW to coordinate public statements and worker communications at the plant about the election. State politicians and antiunion groups, however, campaigned against the UAW, an effort the union blamed for the loss.

But this time, the auto maker was more active in trying to convince workers to vote against unionization. Volkswagen established a website dedicated to the election that emphasized improvements made for workers at the plant, as well as links to antiunion editorials and news articles about a Justice Department investigation into corruption allegations at the UAW.

The UAW has said the misconduct was limited to a few individuals and it has cooperated with the government probe.

State and local politicians also weighed in on the latest vote, trying to dissuade workers from joining.

The IG Metall trade union supported the UAW's efforts, and criticized Volkswagen management for trying to sway the vote in the weeks leading up to the election.

A Volkswagen spokesman had said the company remained neutral throughout the process and respected employees' right to decide.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 14, 2019 22:49 ET (02:49 GMT)