Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Turns Out Anti-Union Volkswagen Workers May Have Screwed Themselves And The South


Media check a 2014 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible R-line.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

by Ashley Alman
Posted: 02/20/2014 12:17 am EST Updated: 02/20/2014 12:59 am EST

Volkswagen employees may have made a huge mistake when they rejected union membership on Friday.

Employees at VW's Chattanooga plant voted against representation by United Auto Workers, leaving the factory as the only Volkswagen plant worldwide without a formal mechanism for workers' representation.

The German "co-determination" model mandates works councils, which connect employees to management, at all large German companies. Following the union vote, the head of Volkswagen's works council [ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/19/us-vw-usplant-idUSBREA1I0S820140219 ] told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the automaker would hesitate to expand in the U.S. 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," said works council leader Bernd Osterloh.

"If co-determination isn't guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor" of building another plant in the right-to-work South, Osterloh added.

Osterloh's characterization of the union vote as jeopardizing potential growth at the Tennessee plant, and across the South, contrasts with what Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/18/bob-corker-volkswagen-uaw-vote_n_4810757.html ] was saying before the balloting. Corker suggested a vote in favor of unionization would hinder VW's growth.

"I've had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga," Corker said last week.

Osterloh blamed conservative lawmakers for possibly influencing the vote by misleading Volkswagen employees.

"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."

Copyright © 2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/vw-union-workers_n_4820585.html [with comments]


--


The Mayor of Lansing, Michigan hilariously trolls Tennessee over UAW crackdown

by Hesiod
Wed Feb 12, 2014 at 08:40 AM PST.

I know other diaries are addressing the historic vote by Volkswagen auto plant workers in Tennessee to unionize and be represented by the UAW this week.

But I wanted to highlight a humorous, and ironic, side story that has emerged out of that fight.

As some of you may know, and a diary or two may have discussed [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/12/1276971/-Volkswagen-isn-t-opposed-to-a-union-but-Republicans-are-threatening-jobs ], the idiot Republican Legislature and Governor of Tennessee have threatened to eliminate the tax breaks that benefit Volkswagen for placing their manufacturing plant in the State.

And, some of your may also be aware of Texas Governor Rick Perry's famous trolling of California and Illinois for businesses due to their tax and regulatory policies.

Well, now the tables have turned.

The mayor of Lansing, Michigan, Virg Bernero -- a staunch pro-union Democrat -- has publicly invited Volkswagen to relocate their manufacturing plant to Lansing [ http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Mayor-Invites-Volkswagen-to-Expand-to-Lansing-244978501.html ], if the idiot Republicans in Tennessee, eliminate their tax breaks.

"The legislature, the governor, they have the nerve threaten the support for expansion based on unionization? I was amazed by it, and then I smelled opportunity," said Bernero.

He posted on his facebook [ https://www.facebook.com/virgbernero ] Monday saying "come to a real car town, leave Tennessee behind."

On Tuesday he sent out the formal request, and plans work with LEAP to send a whole packet of information to VW later this week.

"It's a little wild, but stranger things have happened. We're a car town. We have no problem with the unions, and we welcome all manufacturers."

Bernero said he discussed this with GM before making his statement, because GM has an auto plant in Lansing. They were fine with it.

The downright panic being displayed by Tennessee Republicans over the possibility that one of their auto plants might unionize is tragicomic, obviously. Their dumb billboards proclaiming the "United Obama Workers," and comparing it to a Civil War invasion by the "Union," are laughable. But, the consequences are very serious. Workers have been losing ground for decades, and this is just a small step toward restoring the balance between workers and management that has been dramatically tilted toward the latter over the past 35 years.

Let's hope VW learns that Tennessee, and Republicans, are idiots. And they move to a state which has no problem with unionized auto workers.

© Kos Media, LLC

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/12/1277015/-The-Mayor-of-Lanisng-Michigan-pulls-a-Rick-Perry-on-Tennessee [with comments]


--


(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=53531674 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=71561891 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=97467883 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=97523588 (and any future following)