UAW Demands Labor Board Review Volkswagen Plant Vote

By Dominic Rushe, Guardian UK

22 February 14

Auto union blames -firestorm of interference- for no vote that denies labour representation at Tennessee VW plant

nion officials filed an appeal on Friday against a vote that denied labour representation at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant, blaming a "firestorm of interference" for the no vote.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) narrowly lost a vote last week to represent workers at VW-s Chattanooga plant, the German car company-s only factory in the US and one of the company-s few in the world without a works council.

The vote was seen as a major blow for the UAW and union representation in southern manufacturing states. It came after months of intense lobbying against the UAW from rightwing pressure groups and Republican politicians.

"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," the UAW said in a statement.

The UAW said its objections - filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) - 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."

During the campaign Republican senator Bob Corker, a staunch opponent of unionisation, claimed VW would award the factory another model if the union was rejected. The comments prompted President Obama to accuse opponents of the UAW of being "more concerned about German shareholders than American workers."

Corker-s comments also led to a clash with Volkswagen, which has remained neutral on the vote. "There is no connection between our Chattanooga employees- decision about whether to be represented by a union and the decision about where to build a new product for the US market," Volkswagen said in a statement.

The campaign against the UAW was also backed by a year-long campaign by Americans for Tax Reform, the lobby group run by Grover Norquist.

In its objection the UAW calls Corker-s conduct "shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen."

"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 US 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."

A yes 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 labour-management relations in the United States. German Volkswagen labour representatives have since threatened to try to block new investments in the southern US if workers there are not unionized.

If the NLRB determines there are grounds to set aside the election results, it can call for a new election to be held.