UAW Vote at Volkswagen Confronts Union Aversion in South
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. Feb 11, 2014
Growing up in Tennessee, all Justin King ever heard about labor unions was that they were bad.
This week, after three years working at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, King said he will vote to join the United Auto Workers, and the prospect of a union win has officials across the South on edge. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has tried to talk Volkswagen out of going along, warning that the vote will discourage other companies from investing in the state where only 6.1 percent of the workforce was in a union in 2013.
“What I’ve told them is our concerns are your long-term objectives,” Haslam told the editorial board of the Tennessean newspaper Feb. 5 about his talks with Volkswagen. “You’ve been saying you need to cut the costs of producing the vehicle and you want a better supply network close to you. And I’m not certain how the UAW helps either one of those.”
For decades, the South has been able to capitalize on its lower wages and lack of labor unions to lure companies and jobs from northern states. The UAW vote, which would make the Volkswagen plant the first foreign-owned car factory in the U.S. with a labor union, threatens to change that, and both sides are working hard to steer the outcome their way.
Outside lobby groups, including one tied to anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, have entered the fray, using billboard advertising and editorials in local newspapers to build opposition to the UAW. Labor advocates say a victory for the UAW will boost efforts to organize other companies and perhaps begin to reverse a decades-long trend in declining membership.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/uaw-vote-at-volkswagen-confronts-union-aversion-in-south.html