Volkswagen US May Demand Union

[Amskeptic]

April 7, 2014
Chattanooga Times Free Press

Volkswagen Considers Adopting UAW and Tossing Out Old Election

Reports are circulating that Volkswagen is planning on accepting UAW in Chattanooga and tossing out the recent election of February 14, 2014, which was sabotaged by right-wing, anti-union groups and elected Republican officials, such as: U.S. Senator Bob Corker and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, State Sen. Bo Watson and Rep. Gerald McCormick.

Volkswagen workers were intimidated by threats from GOP officials that the VW plant in Chattanooga would not expand and make the new SUV, if UAW was elected. UAW had the votes initially, but after a week of lies, threats and intimidation by Senator Corker and others, the workers rejected UAW in a vote 712-626.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an anti-union voice, presenting their views that VW should not do this. There is a poll on the web page of this article that I looked at this morning.
77% in favor
23% against

That is very interesting.

I hope Volkswagen makes this happen. It would go a long way towards reminding me that I used to respect that company.
Colin

[asiab3]

So does this mean VW or VAG could make a decision that would trump the vote? I want the workers to have a fair voice in the company, but I also don't want a cooperation that can just overrule employee elections without due process.

When I first got wind of the UAW getting turned down for the plant, I assumed that the plant workers had a better or different system going that they preferred. Spooky to think that too could be bought out.......

[hippiewannabe]

April 7, 2014
Chattanooga Times Free Press

... tossing out the recent election of February 14, 2014, which was sabotaged by right-wing, anti-union groups and elected Republican officials,...

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an anti-union voice, presenting their views that VW should not do this. There is a poll on the web page of this article that I looked at this morning.
77% in favor
23% against

That is very interesting.

Not really. The paper is the result of a merger, and has a strident liberal as well as a strident conservative editorial staff.

Step back and read what you wrote. You are intimating this poll implies the official election results do not reflect the true opinion of the voters. No. This is not a random sample of the population of voters, it is a sample of people that read that web page and chose to participate in the poll. Clearly a self-selected population that agrees with the hard-core liberal, pro-union author.

Pretty insulting of the intelligence of the workers to state that after sitting down with UAW reps and hearing their full value proposition, they were instead swayed by a few billboards and statements by politicians.

VW is used to working with worker's councils, selected by the union. But they are also used to working with a union that is a fellow traveler in the effort to win against the (U.S.) competition. The UAW is about screwing their employer, protecting unrealistic wages, featherbedding and stupid work rules that cripple the ability to innovate and compete. It wasn't till they helped cut the Big Three's market share almost in half, and drove them to bankruptcy, that they were forced to take their monopolistic boot off the neck of the golden goose.

VW should form a council elected at large by the workers, without the UAW. It may lead to a new union that doesn't have the legacy of hate that the UAW does.

[glasseye]

A quick review of the participants:

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/23093 ... volkswagen

[Amskeptic]

A quick review of the participants:

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/23093 ... volkswagen

Interesting . . . .

Any additional insights, Hippiewannabee? I get confused.

From what I remember, Volkswagen used to be good to its workers back in the 50s and 60s and they made good cars and made lots of money like intelligent capitalists used to.

[Bleyseng]

Isn't VW still partly owed by the workers union?

[Amskeptic]

Isn't VW still partly owed by the workers union?

From REUTERS:

In Germany, the law requires that workers be represented on companies’ supervisory boards. Known as Mitbestimmung, or co-determination, the practice gives workers significant voice in determining a company’s future. Volkswagen’s top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized…

Chattanooga is VW’s only factory in the U.S. and in the world without a works council.

“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,” said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW’s works council. “If co-determination isn’t guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor” of potentially building another plant in the U.S. south, Osterloh, who is also on VW’s supervisory board, said.

The 20-member panel – evenly split between labor and management – has to approve any decision on closing plants or building new ones. Osterloh’s comments were published on Wednesday in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. A spokesman at the Wolfsburg-based works council confirmed the remarks. “The conservatives stirred up massive, anti-union sentiments,” Osterloh said. “It’s possible that the conclusion will be drawn that this interference amounted to unfair labor practice.”

[hippiewannabe]

Any additional insights, Hippiewannabee? I get confused.

I'll try to help.


How is this interference:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) twice told workers he had been given assurances that Volkswagen would expand production at Chattanooga if they voted against the union.

Any different than this interference:

“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,” said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW’s works council. “If co-determination isn’t guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor” of potentially building another plant in the U.S. south, Osterloh, who is also on VW’s supervisory board, said.

They know this:

To Germans, a successful non-union VW plant shows that cars can be made without unions. And that is not a message IG Metall wants to hear.

And the workers know this:

The hourly pay for VW employees is about $20, so they would pay $40 a month, or $480 a year. This would help shore up the pensions of the UAW's 600,000 retirees, and pay the salaries of the union officials. VW workers are unlikely to see a raise, and would lose, not gain.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/article ... 00894.html

And this:

About 99 percent of the UAW's 2012 PAC contributions landed in Democratic coffers.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/02 ... -cash.html

Reports are circulating that Volkswagen is planning on accepting UAW in Chattanooga and tossing out the recent election of February 14, 2014,

This is such a crock. If VW wanted a union, all they had to do was put the plant in Michigan. The state government would have matched any incentives Tennessee offered, and there is a huge surplus of experienced, unemployed auto workers here. They knew damn well what they were doing, and are just pandering to the German union.

Again, stop treating the Tennessee workers like dumb rednecks who just fell off the turnip truck. They know the facts, and made an informed choice.

[yondermtn]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/ ... GG20140421

[Amskeptic]

Again, stop treating the Tennessee workers like dumb rednecks who just fell off the turnip truck. They know the facts, and made an informed choice.

What? Who brings up such stereotypes here, but you?

I'll respond to your points at my next gulp for air.
ColinToNewJersey
(p.s. about 99% of oil companies/pharmaceutical companies/financial management companies/coal companies/big ag companies/armament-military companies political contributions end up in Republican coffers, so WHAT IS YOUR POINT?? )

[glasseye]

Again, stop treating the Tennessee workers like dumb rednecks who just fell off the turnip truck. They know the facts, and made an informed choice.

Yah, right. "They knew the facts and made a choice"

Except for the "unprecedented and coordinated interference" by the local politicians in the process

http://truth-out.org/news/item/23197-tr ... -tennessee

[Lanval]

Again, stop treating the Tennessee workers like dumb rednecks who just fell off the turnip truck. They know the facts, and made an informed choice.

Yah, right. "They knew the facts and made a choice"

Except for the "unprecedented and coordinated interference" by the local politicians in the process

http://truth-out.org/news/item/23197-tr ... -tennessee

I assume Hippie will complain that your source isn't mainstream enough; dig this quote from Reuters, though:

"That was when Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, U.S. Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee, and Washington small government activist Grover Norquist said they would ignore subpoenas to attend the hearing, which was to have focused partly on their conduct in the days leading up to the plant workers vote."

Government officials ignoring subpeonas. I like that, because it's nice to see the side that Hippie likes actively admitting to breaking the law. Oh, and here's a statement about what they did:

"During the election campaign, Haslam and other Tennessee politicians threatened to cut off financial incentives for Volkswagen to expand the plant if the UAW succeeded in organizing the workers there."

I suppose, Hippie, that you consider Reuters to be a malignant marxist-liberal mouthpiece too? Article, for reference:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/ ... GG20140421

Here's another quote from that well-known liberal rag, the Wall Street Journal:

"Gov. Haslam offered Volkswagen $300 million in tax breaks and other economic aid to convince the auto maker to produce its unnamed SUV in Chattanooga. The expansion was expected to add more than 1,000 jobs to the plant, which already employs more than 2,000 people. The offer was suspended in January when Volkswagen and the UAW worked out a joint plan for the union vote in February."

Nicely, though, the WSJ does write their article to suggest that nothing is wrong here. What a surprise...

citation: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 42334.html

[Bleyseng]

" But what is freedom for the GOP and the corporate interests? It's certainly not the freedom to organize for better pay and benefits. It's not the freedom from fear or want because state and federal officials have threatened your economic security if a union is formed. It's a kind of zero-sum ideal where the freedom of the wealthy and powerful is premised on the subordination of everyone else."

This is totally the end game of the wealthy as I had to listen to it all last week with a distant super wealthy cousin visiting. He and I had lots of interesting conversations and atleast he and I don't come to blows talking about it. He grew up poor and made it thru hard work and lucky business connections so he doesn't feel he should have to pay to support lazy poor people. He did get his education free of course...

[TrollFromDownBelow]

Folks - The vote is done. over. decision made. Would it be interesting to know why the workers voted it down? absolutely. Would it be interesting to know if all of the union bashing by the GOP made a difference in the vote? Yup. But we don't, and probably won't ever.

From the snippets I read, the workers felt that they really didn't need a union - who are we to second guess? If VW really wants a union, they will put their next plant in the rust belt somewhere.

[Bleyseng]

"Would it be interesting to know why the workers voted it down? absolutely."

I thought this was made clear. Scare tactics, massive media mis-information by the GOP government is the reason. Do I think that this really had a influence on the voting, damn right as it works in most of the southern states.