UAW President Pushes for 'Works Council' at VW Tennessee Plant.

[elleng]

United Auto Workers President Bob King met with Volkswagen AG and German labor leaders last Friday in an attempt to move toward German-style worker representation at the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, German union sources said on Tuesday.

Union officials in Germany who wished to remain anonymous said on Tuesday that the 2,500 Volkswagen workers at the Chattanooga plant may be briefed as soon as this week on efforts to bring the matter to a vote and on the UAW's willingness to back that vote.

At VW plants, workers are represented by so-called works councils, which include laborers as well as executives who cooperate to determine issues ranging from company strategy to job conditions. They do not negotiate wages or benefits.

"If Bob King can get his foot in the door at Chattanooga, even if it's just a works council, it's pretty significant," said a former auto executive at a foreign automaker with U.S. plants, who wished to remain anonymous.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/09/03/business/03reuters-autos-vw-uaw.html?hp

[coldmountain]

1. VW wants a union Chattanooga is the only non union VW plant in the world

"While neither side is officially commenting, Automotive News Europe, citing a story in German newspaper Handelsblatt, reports that a meeting was held last Friday between plant officials and Bob King, president of the UAW. Negotiations are reportedly underway that would see a so-called German-style works council formed. This council would allow both blue-collar and white-collar employees to elect representatives that would have a say in any significant plant discussion.

VW's Chattanooga plant is the only facility the automaker operates in the whole world that isn't represented by a union of some sort, and US labor law apparently requires that an outside body, such as the UAW, be involved in any such negotiations. Horst Neumann, the board member for human resources at VW, said in March that "The UAW would be a natural partner," but that any deal would "depend on negotiations." It would seem those negotiations are now underway in earnest."

http://europe.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130902/ANE/309029913/vw-uaw-organizing-talks-move-forward-report-says#axzz2dmQt7i69

[madrchsod]

2. of my what will the rest of the german assemblers do?

up next bmw and benz.