State of the Union February 19, 2014

February 19, 2014
online at www.uawlocal2250.com

Union meeting today at 4:45 pm.

As you all know, the VW workers in Tennessee voted against UAW representation 712-626. There is no shortage of Monday morning quarterbacks offering their take on the outcome. To be sure, the defeat is a setback for the organizing plans the UAW has for southern transplants. But while some refer to it as “The Death Knell” for the UAW, we don’t believe anyone at Solidarity House has climbed out onto the ledge yet. Rather than offer up our opinions about the proceedings and outcome, we’ll give you a sampling of commentary from a variety of sources both pro and anti union:
o The Detroit News: Of course, employees at the Asian and European plants in America are generally aware that their wages and benefits are kept high due to the presence of the UAW. What the UAW must do, therefore, is urge these employees not to take the union for granted and convince them that a viable labor movement is good for everybody. The UAW must make it loud and clear: No union, no high wages or benefits, whether at a foreign transplant or a domestic auto maker.
o Communications Workers of America: VW employees in Chattanooga have every right to support or oppose their own collective bargaining rights. The narrow loss in the National Labor Relations Board election Friday would have been just an issue of working Americans exercising their rights if it were not for the despicable interference of Senator Corker, Governor Haslam, Republican state legislators and outsiders like Grover Norquist and the Koch brothers.
o The Wall Street Journal: The UAW lost… and in defeat has predictably seized on last-minute comments by GOP Sen. Bob Corker, who argued that a "no" vote would cinch a new model. Bob King, UAW chief, complained of "unprecedented outside influence." Uh huh. Mr. King can be forgiven the necessary face-saving rituals. VW called a snap election to minimize outside input, but the union never had much faith in its chances anyway. Back in September, local organizer Gary Casteel confided to the Tennessean newspaper: "We know that if we go for a traditional election where the outside organizations could campaign against us, we'd probably lose."
o UAW President Bob King: It's never happened in this country before that a U.S. senator, a governor, a leader of the House, a leader of the Legislature here, would threaten the company with no incentives, threaten workers with a loss of product. We think that's outrageous. We'll look at all of our options in the next few days."
o The Tennesseean: The vote in Chattanooga could well be the death knell for the UAW. It certainly shows that even in the most union-accommodating circumstance, workers are reluctant to engage in drawn-out conflicts with management. The question is whether owners and their management are capable of reciprocating by re-evaluating their employment practices and their commitment to engage workers as intelligent assets versus interchangeable gears.
o The Detroit Free Press: The lesson here is that UAW, and American labor unions in general, are doomed unless they can make a more compelling case for the value proposition of union membership. Show how workers’ lives will improve, how unions will help communities grow jobs — or become extinct. The absence of that compelling case, as with any campaign decided at a ballot box, left a message vacuum that was quickly filled by negative messages from powerful UAW foes.
o The Huffington Post: Instead of seeing this as a devastating, disastrous and crushing defeat, the UAW should be encouraged by its remarkable showing against staggering odds. Some years ago I was tangentially involved in a certification vote at a manufacturing plant in Utah. Nearly 70 percent of the workers had filled out cards asking the NLRB to hold a union election. Even with 70 percent signing cards, the workers rejected the union. The final vote was 130 to 14. Now that's "devastating."
o The National Law Review: While this is a setback for the UAW, whose membership has steadily declined over the past decade, it is not the end of either the UAW organizing efforts in the South or the possibility of a union taking root in Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant. As many observers of developments in the southern operations of foreign auto companies have noted over the last year, the UAW has made substantial inroads into the foreign supplier base of those operations.
o Volkswagen workers: “You’ve got a lot of people in the middle,” said Craig Snyder, 42, of Chattanooga, who voted against the union. “You do not know what’s going to happen.”; “I am in support of the union, but if it does not go that way, it really does not bother me much,” Eddie Reel, 50, of Dunlap, Tenn., said after casting his vote; “That scared some people,” said Mike Cantrell, 56, who has worked at VW for three years and supported the UAW, referring to Sen. Corker’s comments o UAW Region 8 Director Gary Casteel: “Unfortunately, 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,”
o VW Chattanooga CEO Frank Fischer: Our employees have not made a decision that they are against a works council. Throughout this process, we found great enthusiasm for the idea of an American-style works council both inside and outside our plant. Our goal continues to be to determine the best method for establishing a works council in accordance with the requirements of U.S. labor law to meet VW America's production needs and serve our employees' interests."
o UAW Secretary Treasurer Dennis Williams: We're proud that these workers were brave and stood up to the tremendous pressure from outside," Williams, who directs the union's transnational program, said. "We hope this will start a larger discussion about workers' right to organize."