Workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted over the weekend not to unionize with the United Auto Workers. The Wall Street Journal says it’s “the best news so far this year for the American economy.”

It’s important news for taxpayers outside the auto industry. The Journal explains why:

“The failure reflects how well the plant's workers are doing without a union, to the tune of $27 an hour including benefits. The defeat also speaks to the harm the UAW has done to itself by driving GM and Chrysler to bankruptcy and pushing companies like Caterpillar to move new production from union plants.”

It was the part of the American auto industry organized by the UAW that ran into the hardest trouble in the recession. Ford survived on its own, but General Motors and Chrysler destroyed $15 billion of taxpayer money in bailouts, maybe more. Not only did the UAW drive those companies over the brink, its political leverage meant the Obama administration spared the companies the normal kind of reorganization in bankruptcy court that can put an insolvent company back on its feet. Such an orderly, legal process might have weakened the union’s power and benefits. Instead, taxpayers took the hit.

The part of the American auto industry that isn’t organized by the UAW – mainly outside Detroit and making cars under brands that began in other countries – has not required a bailout. This is a difference that matters to taxpayers.