Posted on 02/19/2014 5:29:01 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Bernd Osterloh, who is the Volkswagen AG General and Group Works Council chairman, said that future investments in the South might be hurt if workers will not unionize, according to Reuters.
The comments come days after Volkswagen Chattanooga workers voted against representation by the United Auto Workers Union.
After years of quiet work by union leaders and a contentious campaigning period, officials announced Friday night that Volkswagen employees opted against UAW representation with a 712-626 vote.
But at that announcement, Volkswagen Chattanooga President Frank Fischer said the vote wasn't against the works council and that there is still support for that idea.
Osterloh said that, if co-determination isn't guaranteed, it would be more difficult to vote in favor of building another auto plant in the South.
"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the South again," Osterloh said, according to Reuters.
The works council is a 20-member group that has an even division of labor and management representatives. They have to approve decisions about where to locate new plants.
Osterloh's comments have been the target of criticism in the past.
In the fall, Osterloh said that having a works council is important to producing a second vehicle in Chattanooga.
"We know how important that vehicle is for Chattanooga," Osterloh said, according to Reuters.
With help from the National Right to Work Legal Foundation, some VW employees filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Volkswagen America, in part because of that statement.
Some workers and lawyers thought the comments constituted coercion.
NLRB officials have since recommended dismissal of those charges, but not because his statement didn't qualify as coercive. Instead, the NLRB decision said that Osterloh isn't bound by U.S. law because he's in Germany.
After those comments that seemed to tie the union vote to local VW expansion, Osterloh also said there was no connection between the union vote and expansion in Chattanooga.
Some Volkswagen AG leaders, such as Osterloh, want Chattanooga’s plant to be a part of its works council system. It’s currently one of the only plants out of about 100 around the world that operates outside that system.
Because the National Labor Relations Act forbids companies to have an internal union, organizing the local plant can’t be done exactly like the German model.
Volkswagen AG leaders want a works council because it would allow them to stay in touch with ideas and thoughts from Chattanooga workers and come to future deals about working conditions, Horst Neumann, VW's board member for human resources, said, according to Automotive News.
In his most recent comments, Osterloh said that conservatives might be to blame for anti-union feelings.
Sen. Bob Corker and other Republicans campaigned against the UAW efforts, saying that it would hurt the state's ability to attract auto suppliers. They argued that the UAW has a bad reputation, in part because of its ties to the Detroit auto industry.
"The conservatives stirred up massive, anti-union sentiments," Osterloh said, according to Reuters. "It's possible that the conclusion will be drawn that this interference amounted to unfair labor praxis."
Despite last week's vote against UAW representation, some Volkswagen leaders still want Chattanooga workers to be part of the Global Works Council.
But it's still unclear exactly how that would work.
And Gunnar Kilian, secretary-general of VW's works council, told Reuters and The New York Times that he plans to come to the United States within the next two weeks to consult labor law experts and figure out the next steps toward reaching his goal.
Meanwhile, state and local leaders are in talks with VW in hopes of getting a new vehicle made in Chattanooga.
Volkswagen = “People’s Car”...a leftover from National Socialist Germany.
Could not agree more. If VW wants unions, they should pack up and move north.
Public schools...
More properly, Government schools.
Does VW know nothing about the union agenda in America?
What causes you to believe VW doesn’t share the agenda of the unions?
Business Week: Mr. Bernd Osterloh has been the Head of works council of Porsche Automobil Holding SE since December 2008 and also its Member of Supervisory Board since January 2009. Mr. Osterloh serves as Member of Supervisory Board of Porsche Holding GmbH. He has been the Chairman of the Works Council of Volkswagen AG since 2005 and its Member of Supervisory Board since January 1, 2005.
Reuters: Mr. Bernd Osterloh has been Member of the Supervisory Board and Employee Representative at Volkswagen AG since January 1, 2005. In addition, he acts as Deputy Chairman of the Integrated Automotive Group Committee and as Member of the Presidium Committee, Mediation Committee, as well as Committee for Major Shareholder Business Relationships at the Company. Mr. Osterloh is Chairman of the Group and General Works Councils of Volkswagen AG. He serves as Member of the Supervisory Board at Autostadt GmbH, Porsche Automobil Holding SE as well as Wolfsburg AG. Furthermore, Mr. Osterloh is Board Member of Auto 5000 GmbH, Projekt Region Braunschweig GmbH, VfL Wolfsburg-Fussball GmbH and Volkswagen Coaching GmbH.
Nobody here wants to hear reality. I’ve said all along that the big automakers prefer the union to dealing with the individual.
The last union shop I worked in, they encouraged us to unionize as an independent AFL-CIO affiliate as a means of keeping the UAW out. I personally hated being in even that union but it was what it was and I had to eat.
That said, the indy union had a decent relationship with the company. We had a firm no strike clause. We didn’t make big bucks but had decent insurance. Most important the $3 per month we paid were strictly for in house use (No political activism)
Think of just how stupid that is.
The ghosts of the National Socialists are alive and well.
The VW was from the beginning designed as “The People’s Car.”
(That being the main reason I’ve never owned one.)
To hear that their management is headed by a Socialist is no surprise.
The symbolism of a VW plant in Detroit would be unnerving to say the least.
I drive a GTI. It’s my third VW in a row. They are in fact, fine cars and very high quality... nothing like the old days
Certainly did go underground. It’s scurrying back overground rapidly in its old haunts as well.
Funny enough, that’s not what Adolf called it. His name for Ferdinand Porsche’s car was the “KdF-Wagen”, taken from the name of the Nazi tourism bureau, “Kraft durch Freude” (Strength through Joy).
In Pennsylvania, VW hired GM execs and brought in the UAW.
Plant failed in 10 yrs.
In SC, BMW hired American Honda execs and avoided unions scrupulously.
Success!
Correct. They want to deal with representatives of the workers.
There is nothing wrong with that. You have to define processes and procedures and have the employees involved in this. It’s not the 20th century model of workers being antagonistic towards the bosses and vice versa.
Management and workers should be on the same team, sharing an interest in what is best for the company.
That is what VW wants.
Unfortunately, the US law is stuck in the adversarial model.
correct!.........it’s like Trumka talking.......ignore it!
much ado about nothing! If his point of view prevails let em build in one of the empty plants (that hasn’t been bulldozed) in Detroit................
I was gonna say. Surely there’s a blue state that would be happy to share a car company’s wealth with a union.
Screw them. Take their VW plants and move that crap back to Germany. Pound sand and go to hell, IMO.
As the next dicatator in the WH, I’d throw VW out of the U.S. after 1st making a deal with Nissan, Honda, Toyota or Hyundai to use the plant for building more of their cars here.
Quality inspectors are generally non union, company employees...
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