Posted on 01/29/2014 5:28:40 PM PST by Second Amendment First
At the Volkswagen plant nestled in Tennessee’s rolling hills, a unionization drive has drawn national attention as business groups worry about organized labor’s efforts to gain its first foothold at a foreign-owned automobile plant in the South. In a region known as anti-union, many view VW’s response as unusual, if not topsy-turvy.
Unlike most companies that confront unionization efforts, Volkswagen — facing a drive by the United Automobile Workers — has not mounted a vigorous campaign to beat back the union; instead VW officials have hinted they might even prefer having a union. And while unions that seek to organize factories often complain that the playing field is tilted because they do not have access to workers in the plant, here the union opponents are the ones protesting what they say is an uneven field.
The anti-U.A.W. forces are making themselves heard, warning that if the U.A.W. succeeds here, that will lend momentum to unionize two other prestigious German-owned plants: the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama and the BMW plant in South Carolina.
*
But Chattanooga’s business community grew alarmed last September when the U.A.W. asked VW for union recognition, saying a majority of the plant’s 1,600 assembly workers had signed cards seeking union representation.
The business community reacted with further dismay when several Volkswagen officials from Germany visited the plant and hinted that it would be good to have a labor union because that would help establish a German-style works council. Such councils, comprising managers and representatives of white-collar and blue-collar workers, seek to foster collaboration within a factory as they forge policies on plant rules, work hours, vacations and other matters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Senator Bob Corker help saddle us with VW...
The state of TN paid VW $MILLIONS to come here...
People don’t like hearing it but big companies often prefer dealing with a single union steward over than everybody on the shop floor who has a grievance.
The last union shop I worked in called the AFL-CIO in as a means of keeping the UAW out. It sucked but it was what it was.
Like paying to be infected with a deadly virus.
Now we know why VW’s last attempt in the US was a complete failure.
“because that would help establish a German-style works council.”
If the Krauts are really that stupid, they’ll get what they deserve, and by the end of the decade, Chattanooga will be trying to re-purpose an empty auto assembly building. I guess the VW execs don’t even study their own history.
OK, I just looked it up. The Pennsylvania plant did last a full decade, from 1978 to 1988 before the union demands led to a shutdown.
No vote, just a "card check". And Obama supports eliminating the secret ballot for union votes.
“The business community reacted with further dismay when several Volkswagen officials from Germany visited the plant and hinted that it would be good to have a labor union because that would help establish a German-style works council. Such councils, comprising managers and representatives of white-collar and blue-collar workers, seek to foster collaboration within a factory as they forge policies on plant rules, work hours, vacations and other matters.”
The Krauts simply don’t understand the UAW. If they go UAW, we can say bubbye to VW as a viable company here. GM, VW, allee sameee when you have the UAW. And over time, Chattanooga can say hello to Detroit style disintegration.
I think that the Germans are naive if they believe that the union would be a positive. What they will quickly discover is that the union is more about saving the jobs of the drunks and potheads and raping the company for every nickel they can beg, borrow, or steal.
Apparently there's nobody left from the failed Westmoreland Pa plant back in the 80s.
But the AFL-CIO is not a union-it is an association of various unions. Which union was brought in to offset the UAW?
Ours was an independent union but the point is the same.
Germans are pro union and in Germany, everything is subsidized by the govt.
I'm surprised that this group of German morons haven't realized that that philosophy doesn't work here in the U.S............
But then again, that's changing real fast..........
The administration of the college where I work, did a VW.
The president was a former Democrat governor and wanted the faculty and staff to be unionized. So through a voluntary recognition maneuver the faculty and staff were unionized and part of the Maine State Employees Association which later affiliated with the SEIU (ugh).
The administration no longer had to deal with 40 faculty members and 60 or so staff and another 50 hourly workers.
About 40 years ago the faculty in Minnesota State College system unionized. One college president told me that after unionization he had more power and the faculty had less.
While I hated being in the union, I suspect I would have hated being in the UAW even more.
Well I was president of the faculty union for a couple of years. It was fun-about 50%+ of the faculty are conservative or very conservative. The administration officers-much more liberal. It was fun negotiating with them. Their knowledge of budgets, costs, and revenue streams was dismal. They would have failed my freshman economics course.
The workers would be foolish to do this; they’d be paid less in the end!
So, why did GM shut down Saturn in Tennessee?
I am still driving my 2001 Saturn with 192,000 miles — so am I to assume that because I don’t really need a new car, I helped ruin Saturn by not buying a new car every 2 or 3 years?
I don’t believe it. Why open the plant in TN to begin with? Why not Ohio, PA, Michigan, etc.?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.