Volkswagen workers in Tennessee reject UAW February 15, 2014 Auto workers in Volkswagen ’s plant in Chattanooga, TN rejected United Auto Worker (UAW ) representation by a vote of 712 – 626. That’s not a landslide but it represents a significant defeat for the UAW which has been trying to organize import auto plants for many years with no success. Most observers assumed workers would vote in favor of the UAW, especially since VW did not oppose the UAW and took an officially neutral position. So where does this leave the UAW? Some context All hourly auto workers in U.S. plants operated by Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Chrysler Corporation are represented by the UAW. In Canada, ...

Volkswagen workers reject union at Chattanooga plant, a blow to UAW An employee works on a Passat sedan at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, (Erik Schelzig / Associated) Volkswagen workers in Tennessee narrowly voted to reject joining a union, crushing the United Automobile Workers union’s attempt to unionize a foreign-owned car factory for the first time, officials announced late Friday. The 712-626 vote (53%-47%) against unionization at the German automaker’s three-year-old factory in Chattanooga is a setback for UAW because labor experts had thought Volkswagen gave the union its best shot of setting a precedent to make inroads with transplants such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and ...

Inflating paychecks is not the only way to hobble a car company. Beyond wages and benefits, the UAW afflicted the domestic automobile industry with ridiculous and cumbrous work rules — a recent volume of which weighed in at 22 pounds — and, perhaps more important, with a poisonous, us-and-them attitude regarding the firms that employed its members. The combination of UAW micromanagement and adversarial culture, not wages per se, is what helped to do in GM. One young female manager tells the story of having an exotic dancer/prostitute making an appearance at her facility in the middle of the work day to transact business with UAW employees; when she complained, the union representative demanded ...

How Volkswagen’s Tennessee Plant Could End Up Organized Without the UAW Photograph by Erik Schelzig/AP Photo Workers assemble Volkswagen Passat sedans at the German automaker’s plant in Chattanooga The United Auto Workers’ defeat in a union vote at a  Volkswagen (VOW:GR ) plant in Chattanooga has been described as crushing, brutal, and devastating. While the result underscores the severe troubles facing U.S. labor organizers, it might not change much at the VW facility in question. The automaker, which didn’t oppose the union drive, could well proceed with the creation of a “works council,” though without UAW participation. Common across German industry, works councils represent ...

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Volkswagen and Labor Might Start a Revolution in Dixie 87 Jan 23, 2014 9:00 AM EST As a union-side lawyer, I know many write off the labor movement as lost. But maybe globalization will save us. Consider how the United Auto Workers has come so close to organizing the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The UAW may not win immediately, yet something earth-shaking has already happened: a U.S. union opting to push a German company to bring its own model over here. If that transplant works, then globalization really might save the U.S. labor movement. As pointed out by Harvard University’s Richard Freeman. a leading labor economist, the workplace in countries such as Belgium, Sweden, ...

Tenn. Lawmakers Threaten to Block Subsidies If VW Plant Unionizes Volkswagen employees go to the polls on Wednesday, but will state politicians’ threats affect their union election? Andreas Praefcke/Wikimedia Commons In the run-up to a union election, workers typically run a gauntlet of threats from management, including claims that a vote to unionize will jeopardize their jobs by hurting the company’s bottom line. But in the case of an upcoming union election for Volkswagen’s 1,600-worker auto plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. set to run from February 1214, the company has pledged to remain neutral during the union drive. Last week, Volkswagen even invited the United Auto Workers ...

A “Firestorm of Interference”: Understanding the Volkswagen Vote in Tennessee “We’re kicking them every day, and we’ll continue to kick them.” –Nikki Haley (Gage Skidmore/Flickr) In Chattanooga, Tennessee last week, we nearly witnessed what would have been a rare occurrence in U.S. labor relations: a fair and democratic National Labor Relations Board election. Volkswagen management had vowed to remain neutral and allow its 1,550 hourly paid employees to make the decision on unionization (whereas in the overwhelming majority of organizing campaigns, it is hostile employers and their consultants who choose whether the workplace gets a union). But a free election in the South ...

How would a German-style labor organization work in the United States? Volkswagen AG leaders have discussed with UAW leaders the possibility of a German-style labor board at Chattanooga’s plant. (Photo: Staff) For more than a year, leaders with the United Auto Workers Union have been eyeing Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant, and reports this week that the organization has talked with Volkswagen AG executives about a German-style labor board at the local plant have raised a number of questions. What does a German-style labor board even look like in the United States? Labor organizations in the United States are very different from those in Germany. So, how do officials reconcile those ...

Related Stories Walmart Contractor Settle $21M Wage Theft Suit, Days After Obama Praises Penny-Pinching Retailer Links Employees at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have rejected membership in the United Auto Workers union. In a blow to organized labor, Volkswagen workers voted against the measure by a vote of 712 to 626, derailing attempts to make it the first unionized foreign-owned car factory in the United States. But the union faced intense opposition from Republican lawmakers, including threats suggesting the plant might miss out on future subsidies or on a new SUV line if the union succeeded. Outside groups also played a role. To find out more about the implications of ...