Posted on 09/12/2013 2:53:51 AM PDT by markomalley
Volkswagen's factory at Chattanooga, Tennessee, is close to becoming the first U.S. car assembly plant run by a foreign company to have its workers officially represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, a German paper reported.
"Yes, we have a majority," UAW boss Bob King was quoted saying by business daily Handelsblatt in a preview of an article to be published on Friday.
More than 50 percent of the employees at the plant, which according to VW figures numbered 2,415, had signed union cards and registered as future union members, the paper said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Goodbye VAG
FU UAW. Seriously, go # yerselves.
Volkswagen declined to comment, but its human resources director defended the union's attempts to organize at Chattanooga.
There goes they’re”Competitive Edge”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Germany will need to invade to liberate their assets from Communist control.
South to Alabama would be a good move. MB has done well there. 60% of the Benzes drive in Germany are from Alabama.
I guess the employees at that plant wanted to kick back and live off of Obama’s welfare state. Memo to Volkswagen management. If you do this, many potential buyers will strike your vehicles off of their purchase lists.
I guess the union has to learn the hard way it’s well known in industry circles that Tennessee is the end of the road for a US factory due to the state having some of the lowest costs and favorable business conditions in the nation. Things get too costly and the next step is to close and move overseas.
I believe the only car they build there is the Passat. I drove one once. Nice, but totally boring to drive. It was engineered for the US market which is to say it is built for people who think of cars as appliances like washers or refrigerators.
VW has already invested heavily in production facilities in Mexico.
The combination of VW-UAW has not ended well in the past.
"The Chattanooga plant opened 23 years after the closing of the Westmoreland Assembly Plant near New Stanton, Pennsylvania, in 1988.[6] The plant, which operated from 1978–88, had been characterized by labor unrest and suffered from poor networking between Westmoreland and Volkswagen headquarters in Germany.[10]"
Americans CAN vote with their wallet when they have to and now is no time to try and START a new union.
http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/content/en/the_group/production_plants.html
VW has three production plants in Mexico and one in Tennessee. I don’t know what the tax and import situation is, but the one in Tennessee is most likely there to minimize the impact of currency fluctuations.
I think VW also wanted to be able to say that the cars were American made. But it’s probably not worth that if they have to deal with the UAW.
Having said that, VW probably has hired managers with insufferable egos who have pissed people off.
The VW production model is to sub out entire lines in the plant to contractors. If those remain non-union then the new UAW workers will be told not to cooperate with them and the entire plant will become worthless.
I’d say VW should shut the plant and then come back in two years with different (better?) management.
Plans for a HUGE operation in Colombia. Goodbye UAW
Union extortion (the Socialist Workers' Party in America, and a money-laundering front for Taxpayers funds to the DNC/Unions/etc.).
“Not that I wanted to buy a VW Passat before, I really don’t want to buy a VW Passat now.”
I bought my daughter a 2007 Beetle when she was in high school. It was a money pit. After that experience I wouldn’t buy a VW product if VW paid me. Contrary to what their commercials imply, German engineering sucks.
Wasn’t the UAW responsible for why the PA VW plant tanked back in the 80s?
VW didn’t go far enough south. TN still has braindead drone auto workers courtesy of the now-dead Saturn plant.
One of two things will happen, no probably both will happen quickly, cost of production will go way up, quality will go way down.
The location of the Chattanooga plant will mirror Detroit.
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