Friday, 14 February 2014
BY BERNIE WOODALL
Reuters
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on
Wednesday he has been “assured” that if workers at the Volkswagen AG
plant in his hometown of Chattanooga reject United Auto Worker
representation, the company will reward the plant with a new product to
build.
Corker’s bombshell, which runs counter to public statements by
Volkswagen, was dropped on the first of a three-day secret ballot
election of blue-collar workers at the Chattanooga plant whether to
allow the UAW to represent them.
In the past few weeks, Volkswagen officials have made several
statements that the vote will have no bearing on whether the SUV will be
made at the Chattanooga plant or at a plant in Puebla, Mexico.
Corker has long been an opponent of the union which he says hurts
economic and job growth in Tennessee, a charge that UAW officials say is
not true.
“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,” said Corker, without saying with whom he had the
conversations.
National Labor Relations Board expert Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, who is
professor of labor at the University of Indiana-Bloomington, said Corker
was trying to intimidate workers into voting against the union.
“I’m really kind of shocked at Corker’s statement,” said Dau-Schmidt.
“It’s so inconsistent with what VW has been saying and VW’s labor
relations policy in general.”
A spokeswoman for Corker did not respond when asked whether the
senator also meant that a vote for the UAW would mean that the plant
would not get the new product, which could create an estimated 1,500 new
jobs.
Volkswagen officials did not return calls and emails for comment on Corker’s statement.
Mike Burton of Southern Momentum, an anti-UAW group of plant workers, said Corker’s statement makes sense.
“We are in a battle with Mexico on where this new product goes,” said
Burton, “and it stands to reason that the union will add costs. We need
to keep costs down to fight for that new product.”
Another labor expert, Harley Shaiken of the University of
California-Berkeley, said, “The senator’s comments amount to economic
intimidation that undermines the whole nature of union representation
elections.”
Shaiken often advises UAW officials.
“If the senator’s statement doesn’t violate the letter of the law, it certainly violates the spirit of the law,” Shaiken said.
UAW REACTION
Gary Casteel, UAW regional director for a 12-state area that includes
Tennessee, said on Wednesday night, “Corker’s statement is in direct
contradiction to Volkswagen’s statements.
“They have specifically said that this vote will have no bearing on the decision of where to place the new product.”
In the past, Casteel has said that Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant,
opened in 2011, needs a second product to survive. It has built the
compact Passat sedan since it opened.
The plant has about 1,550 Volkswagen workers eligible to vote in the
election, which is supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.
Pro- and anti-UAW workers said they were not sure if snowy weather
will affect turnout for the vote, which ends on Friday when the plant
does not produce cars.
On Wednesday — day one of the vote — the night shift was canceled
after only one car was produced because snow prevented workers reaching
the plant, said two VW employees who wished to remain anonymous.
A source familiar with the plans of the Volkswagen supervisory board
which makes decisions on product placement said that the board has not
yet made a decision on the issue, and that it will take it up in a
meeting on Feb. 22.
