Volkswagen isn't opposed to a union, but Republicans are threatening jobs
- Thread starter 700UW
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La Li Lu Le Lo
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I will take on that question southwind. I would think you would be more accepting of my answer since we have a similar political outlook.southwind said:
just why should employee's and not owners have any say on where to build the next factory
I would say in most scenarios I would agree with you. However, if businesses are being subsidized by the city tax base (which presumably would include most VW employees) then the taxpayer, rightly so, should expect to see some kind of return on that investment.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/24/chattanooga-vw-incentives-largest-state/?print
The city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County spent nearly two decades acquiring, cleaning up and redeveloping the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant into Enterprise South, where VW will build its plant.
The other side of the coin is the city government has a responsibility to look out for the overall economic health of the city. If a UAW presence would threaten recent and future economic expansion of the city that information should be communicated to the public.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/12/news/companies/vw-uaw-vote/
Tennessee Republicans warn that if the UAW wins, the state will lose business from companies that want a union-free environment. They say that workers voting in favor of the union will imperil the standard of living in Chattanooga, as well as economic development across the state.
At the end of the day the only real question is was Corker's intent to threaten the workers of VW because of his anti-UNION political beliefs or was he communicating to them that the city would not subsidize a company that threatened its future economic growth.
Personally I believe his intent was to threaten the workers of VW because of his anti-UNION political beliefs. Based on that belief I have no choice but to conclude that Corker is indeed guilty of unethical behavior.
why should someone be forced to join a union in order to obtain employment
They should not. A UNION like anything else should have to EARN its membership. That is why TWU is a Totally Worthless Union.
Just announced this afternoon by the UAW:
UAW appeals outside interference in union representation election for Chattanooga Volkswagen workers
DETROIT, Mich. – The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant.
A firestorm of interference from politicians and special interest groups threatening the economic future of the plant occurred just before and during three days of voting in an election supervised by the NLRB. Workers voted narrowly to reject representation, with a slim 44 vote swing. The objections detail a coordinated and widely publicized coercive campaign conducted by politicians and outside organizations to deprive Volkswagen workers of their federally protected right to join a union.
The campaign included publicly-announced and widely disseminated threats by elected officials that state-financed incentives would be withheld if workers exercised their protected right to form a union.
“It’s essentially saying, ‘If you unionize, it’s going to hurt your economy. Why? Because I’m going to make sure it does,’” said Volkswagen worker Lauren Feinauer. “I hope people see it for the underhanded threat that it is.”
The campaign also included threats by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker related to promises of a new product line awarded to the plant if workers voted against UAW representation.
The objections state, “Senator Corker’s conduct was shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen. … The clear message of the campaign was that voting for the union would result in stagnation for the Chattanooga plant, with no new product, no job security, and withholding of state support for its expansion.”
“It’s an outrage that politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that that would grow jobs in Tennessee,” said UAW President Bob King. “It is extraordinary interference in the private decision of workers to have a U.S. senator, a governor and leaders of the state legislature threaten the company with the denial of economic incentives and workers with a loss of product. We’re committed to standing with the Volkswagen workers to ensure that their right to have a fair vote without coercion and interference is protected.”
An affirmative vote for union representation at the Volkswagen plant would have led to the establishment of a works council that would have been the first such model of labor-management relations in the United States.
The NLRB will investigate the election conduct and determine whether there are grounds to set aside the election results and hold a new election for Volkswagen workers.
UAW appeals outside interference in union representation election for Chattanooga Volkswagen workers
DETROIT, Mich. – The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant.
A firestorm of interference from politicians and special interest groups threatening the economic future of the plant occurred just before and during three days of voting in an election supervised by the NLRB. Workers voted narrowly to reject representation, with a slim 44 vote swing. The objections detail a coordinated and widely publicized coercive campaign conducted by politicians and outside organizations to deprive Volkswagen workers of their federally protected right to join a union.
The campaign included publicly-announced and widely disseminated threats by elected officials that state-financed incentives would be withheld if workers exercised their protected right to form a union.
“It’s essentially saying, ‘If you unionize, it’s going to hurt your economy. Why? Because I’m going to make sure it does,’” said Volkswagen worker Lauren Feinauer. “I hope people see it for the underhanded threat that it is.”
The campaign also included threats by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker related to promises of a new product line awarded to the plant if workers voted against UAW representation.
The objections state, “Senator Corker’s conduct was shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen. … The clear message of the campaign was that voting for the union would result in stagnation for the Chattanooga plant, with no new product, no job security, and withholding of state support for its expansion.”
“It’s an outrage that politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that that would grow jobs in Tennessee,” said UAW President Bob King. “It is extraordinary interference in the private decision of workers to have a U.S. senator, a governor and leaders of the state legislature threaten the company with the denial of economic incentives and workers with a loss of product. We’re committed to standing with the Volkswagen workers to ensure that their right to have a fair vote without coercion and interference is protected.”
An affirmative vote for union representation at the Volkswagen plant would have led to the establishment of a works council that would have been the first such model of labor-management relations in the United States.
The NLRB will investigate the election conduct and determine whether there are grounds to set aside the election results and hold a new election for Volkswagen workers.
700UW said:
Despite the indignation of pro-union forces, legal experts earlier had said that any challenge of the outcome, based on Corker's comments, would be difficult, given broad free speech protection for U.S. Senators.
While the landscape is very different from 25 years ago, the legacy of the older plant's failure is part of the troubled history the UAW will have to overcome as it tries to represent VW workers again -- this time in Tennessee, where the automaker employs 2,500 people building Passat sedans.
When Volkswagen decided to open its first U.S. assembly plant in the 1970s, it assumed it would have to deal with the UAW, then at the height of its power as an industrial union and a force in American politics. Dealing with the UAW was seen as the cost of doing business.
The VW plant in Pennsylvania was troubled from the start with wildcat strikes and costly production shutdowns.
The reasons for shutting the plant included flagging demand for the outdated small cars it built, a weak U.S. dollar that hurt VW when shipping parts to the plant from overseas, and an adversarial relationship between the plant's American managers and VW's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, former workers and executives said.
There has been similar friction between VW's U.S. executives and leaders back in Germany over whether to allow the UAW to represent the Tennessee workers. To help its cause, the UAW has sought the support of VW's global works council, as well as the powerful German union IG Metall.
It would not be the first time the UAW has received support from IG Metall, which intervened to help the U.S. union in Pennsylvania in the late 1970s.
"The word came over, ‘We want you to look favorably on the UAW organizing the plant,'" one of the former VW executives, who asked not to be identified, said of the Pennsylvania plant. "The fact was that IG Metall put a big threat on VW in Germany - ‘Help them organize, or else.'"
That runs counter to the early experience of VW in Pennsylvania. Several unauthorized walk-outs by workers in the plant's first two years left a bitter taste with some managers. One former VW executive said if he could do it all over again, he would have urged the company to open a non-union plant in the South.
In 1987, the UAW offered sweeping concessions, including pay cuts, to try to save the plant. When that failed, Dinsmore stayed on with an agency to help workers find new jobs.
Prevenslik continued to lead the union as members helped break down the equipment to send it to automaker VW's partner in China. The irony of paying UAW members to break down production equipment to send it to China was not lost on Prevenslik, among the last workers at the plant.
When Volkswagen decided to open its first U.S. assembly plant in the 1970s, it assumed it would have to deal with the UAW, then at the height of its power as an industrial union and a force in American politics. Dealing with the UAW was seen as the cost of doing business.
The VW plant in Pennsylvania was troubled from the start with wildcat strikes and costly production shutdowns.
The reasons for shutting the plant included flagging demand for the outdated small cars it built, a weak U.S. dollar that hurt VW when shipping parts to the plant from overseas, and an adversarial relationship between the plant's American managers and VW's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, former workers and executives said.
There has been similar friction between VW's U.S. executives and leaders back in Germany over whether to allow the UAW to represent the Tennessee workers. To help its cause, the UAW has sought the support of VW's global works council, as well as the powerful German union IG Metall.
It would not be the first time the UAW has received support from IG Metall, which intervened to help the U.S. union in Pennsylvania in the late 1970s.
"The word came over, ‘We want you to look favorably on the UAW organizing the plant,'" one of the former VW executives, who asked not to be identified, said of the Pennsylvania plant. "The fact was that IG Metall put a big threat on VW in Germany - ‘Help them organize, or else.'"
That runs counter to the early experience of VW in Pennsylvania. Several unauthorized walk-outs by workers in the plant's first two years left a bitter taste with some managers. One former VW executive said if he could do it all over again, he would have urged the company to open a non-union plant in the South.
In 1987, the UAW offered sweeping concessions, including pay cuts, to try to save the plant. When that failed, Dinsmore stayed on with an agency to help workers find new jobs.
Prevenslik continued to lead the union as members helped break down the equipment to send it to automaker VW's partner in China. The irony of paying UAW members to break down production equipment to send it to China was not lost on Prevenslik, among the last workers at the plant.
SparrowHawk
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This entire debacle points out why government should stay out of business.
Veiled threats are no way to influence any election, union or otherwise. Neither is offering tax incentives. Smacks of crony capitalism a skill that knows no political affiliation, money talks and BS walks and cash in an envelope or suitcase SCREAMS.
Hey we're meddling in the Ukraine, why not TN?
Veiled threats are no way to influence any election, union or otherwise. Neither is offering tax incentives. Smacks of crony capitalism a skill that knows no political affiliation, money talks and BS walks and cash in an envelope or suitcase SCREAMS.
Hey we're meddling in the Ukraine, why not TN?
Well so new information has come to light:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/gop-gov-uses-taxpayer-money-to-bust-unions-215670339954
http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/gop-gov-uses-taxpayer-money-to-bust-unions-215670339954
eolesen
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Wow, such a bombshell. A proposal to expand a plant had conditions on it. Shocking.
Never mind the fact that VW had been investigating whether or not they could use a works council approach, versus traditional collective bargaining, and how the works council approach could work within the US labor laws.
http://labornotes.org/2014/02/volkswagen-workers-vote-union-works-council-scheme
Also don't mind the fact that the offer had been withdrawn before the vote (stated in the link below), because it was clearer that the works council lite wasn't likely to fit within US labor laws...
Also ignore the fact that the Tennessee legislature would have had to approve the incentive proposal...
http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/cars/2014/04/01/report-tennessee-offered-incentives-tied-vw-vote/7150891/
Seems that this is a big yawn, like most of MSNBC's programming.
Never mind the fact that VW had been investigating whether or not they could use a works council approach, versus traditional collective bargaining, and how the works council approach could work within the US labor laws.
http://labornotes.org/2014/02/volkswagen-workers-vote-union-works-council-scheme
Also don't mind the fact that the offer had been withdrawn before the vote (stated in the link below), because it was clearer that the works council lite wasn't likely to fit within US labor laws...
Also ignore the fact that the Tennessee legislature would have had to approve the incentive proposal...
http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/cars/2014/04/01/report-tennessee-offered-incentives-tied-vw-vote/7150891/
Seems that this is a big yawn, like most of MSNBC's programming.
Kev3188
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To me, this is the forgotten part of the story, and one that I would've liked to see teased out a bit more in the media.eolesen said:
Corker's a blowhard, people's opinion can be conditioned, MSM sucks, and Working Class America is under a sustained assault by monied interests. None of that's news to anyone here (I hope?).
