NASHVILLE The United Auto Workers announced Monday it is withdrawing an appeal of the outcome of a unio vote at Volkswagens assembly plant in Tennessee.

In a statement released one hour before the scheduled start of a National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chattanooga, Tenn., UAW President Bob King said the unio decided to put the tainted election in the rearview mirror because the challenge could have taken months or even years to come to a conclusion.

The UAW had filed its appeal with the National Labor Relations Board after Volkswagen workers rejected the unio in a 712-626 vote in February, arguing that public statements from U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and other GOP officials raised fears about the plants future if workers there organized.

documents also show Tennessee tied a $300 million incentive package to the satisfactory outcome of the labour situation at the plant.

Corker and Haslam filed motions fighting subpoenas from the unio to produce documents and appear at the NLRB hearings.

The unprecedented political interference by Gov. Haslam, Sen. Corker and others was a distraction for Volkswagen employees and a detour from achieving Tennessees economic priorities, King said. The UAW is ready to put Februarys tainted election in the rearview mirror and instead focus on advocating for new jobs and economic investment in Chattanooga.

The vote against the UAW was a setback to the unios goal of expanding into foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., particularly those in the South.

The UAW says it will now focus on a congressional investigation into an anti-unioization campaign by Republican politicians and outside groups.