Union Drive Doesn’t Bother Management, but G.O.P. Fumes

[Crabtownboy]

If management does not complain, why would the GOP do anything so foolish as to encourage Volkswagen to send Tennessee jobs to Mexico? I thought the GOP, Tea Party, etc. wanted less government interference .... this is much more.

State Senator Bo Watson, who represents a suburb of Chattanooga, warned on Monday that if VW’s workers voted to embrace the U.A.W., the Republican-controlled Legislature might vote against approving future incentives to help the plant expand.

“The members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee,” Mr. Watson said at a news conference. He added that a pro-U.A.W. vote would make it “exponentially more challenging” for the legislature to approve future subsidies.

A loss of such incentives, industry analysts say, could persuade Volkswagen to award production of a new S.U.V. to its plant in Mexico instead of to the Chattanooga plant, which currently assembles the Passat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/b...p-its-warnings.html?hpw&rref=automobiles&_r=0

House Democrats expressed astonishment Monday that Gov. Bill Haslam and other Tennessee Republicans would threaten to pull economic incentives for Volkswagen if its Chattanooga factory seeks union representation for its workers.

“It’s almost unprecedented in this country,” said Mike Turner, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “This is a very bad precedent to set.”

Turner and other Democratic lawmakers called a press conference Monday to say they were “stunned” that Republicans in government would attempt to interfere with agreements made involving private businesses. They said they feared the move would dissuade future businesses from coming to Tennessee.


http://www.tennessean.com/article/2...TN-Democrats-stunned-GOP-criticism-Volkswagen

 

[Don]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/14/us/tennessee-vw-union-vote/index.html?c=us

So how astonished are those democrats now that the employees themselves voted against unionization?

 

[Don]

It was worthy of bringing up when the GOP was against it; not worthy of a comment when the workers themselves voted against it?

 

[church mouse guy]

It was worthy of bringing up when the GOP was against it; not worthy of a comment when the workers themselves voted against it?

UAW workers in Detroit do not make as much as non-union workers at VW so it seems that the GOP and the VW workers are the same people. VW in Germany is unionized so VW was playing along with the UAW, but then Germany is behind the times in freedom.

Personally, I would not want to be associated with the UAW after what they have done to this country.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

If management does not complain, why would the GOP do anything so foolish as to encourage Volkswagen to send Tennessee jobs to Mexico? I thought the GOP, Tea Party, etc. wanted less government interference .... this is much more.

Obviously the workers didn't think the plant would send their jobs to Mexico. They voted the union down.

Fox News: Workers at Tennessee Volkswagen factory reject United Auto Workers union​

Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee have voted against union representation in a devastating defeat for the United Auto Workers union's effort to make inroads in the South.

The 712-626 vote released late Friday was surprising for many labor experts and union supporters who expected a UAW win because Volkswagen tacitly endorsed the union and even allowed organizers into the Chattanooga factory to make sales pitches.

You should be ashamed of yourself, CTB. The reason the workers voted against the union? Because they discovered an undisclosed agreement between the UAW and Volkswagen that would have reduced hourly pay, bringing it line with what Ford, GM and Fiat-Chrysler pay in Detroit. Volkswagen already paid their employees better than the Big Three U.S. automakers. That's the reason VW was practically endorsing the UAW representation, it would have saved them money!! In other words, you were championing an effort that would have hurt workers, not helped them.