“CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted Friday night against forming a factory-wide union, handing a setback to the United Auto Workers’ efforts to gain a foothold among foreign auto facilities in the South.

The vote of hourly workers began Wednesday and concluded Friday. Preliminary results show 833 employees voted against representation and 776 voted for it, the German automaker said in a statement. VW said about 93% of the roughly 1,700 eligible employees voted.

“Our employees have spoken,” Frank Fischer, president and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga, said in the company statement…”

https://apnews.com/69fe70c9471048fe8da74076f715fec4

Good. There are days I think I'd like to get back into automotive manufacturing, and going over to Chattanooga wouldn't hurt my feelings, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy working in a union shop at all.

Success in union organizing has a lot to do whether or not secret ballot voting is used.

https://www.heritage.org/polit...ck-vs-secret-ballots

These may be the same people who did not unionize when the plant was building Saturn cars. If I remember correctly.

Both the UAW and Volkswagen have been burning up the local airwaves, TV and radio, with ads leading up to this vote...good on Volkswagen workers for rejecting the UAW...the UAW was looking to recoup their loses over the years and they lost another one...
The Saturn plant was in Spring Hill TN and the Volkswagen plant is in Chattanooga.

Unions are not very popular in the South, no matter the industry. They were huge in the Rust Belt during the heydays of GM and Ford Motor.

quote:

Originally posted by SuhlShooter:
These may be the same people who did not unionize when the plant was building Saturn cars. If I remember correctly.

Perhaps some of the same people, but the Saturn facility was in Spring Hill.

quote:

These may be the same people who did not unionize when the plant was building Saturn cars. If I remember correctly.

Not even close. The Saturn plant is in suburban Nashville (Spring Hill), always has been Union & still builds GM autos. You may be thinking of the Nissan plant, also in suburban Nashville (Smyrna) which has rejected unionization.

Almost.
The Spring Hill facility started as a non-union plant.

This was one of the ways in which Saturn was to be"a new kind of car company," and one of its primary features. It was heavily "employee-involved," but not unionized.

The union took its hold later on.

I could be wrong...


- - - -
Edited spelling.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

The UAW is done. When they voted in the two tier wages they voted for their own long term death. These plants in the South don't want them, that's why they came south.

I've spent almost 30 years now in auto plants in various roles and locations.

Fuck the UAW. They can't die soon enough. I've seen stupidity that makes the government look like a well oiled machine. And solidarity? Ha! These UAW guys would fuck each other for a nickel, and often do. And I've only recently been a manager, most of my career has been on the floor as a technician or process engineer, so even as a worker bee I say the union sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Almost.
The Spring Hill facility started as a non-union plant.

This was one of the ways in which Saturn was to be"a new kind of car company," and one of its primary features. It was heavily "employee-involved," but not unionized.

The union took its old later on.

I could be wrong...

Yes you are wrong. The whole idea behind Saturn was the company and the union working together instead of always being at cross purposes. UAW was involved in the "partnership" from its inception.

Fair enough. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Fuck the UAW. They can't die soon enough.

Not much else needs to be said.

Them, and every other labor union IMO.

I'm of the strong opinion the company that deserves a union gets a union.

Clearly VW doesn't deserve a union.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
The UAW is done. When they voted in the two tier wages they voted for their own long term death. These plants in the South don't want them, that's why they came south.

I wish they were. At the plant I work in the UAW is VERY much alive and basically runs the place (and it's a manufacturing plant, not an auto plant.) I've been there almost 2 years and this has been my 1st experience with a union and boy, has it been a bad one. I'm a salaried person and cringe at what I see the union folks get away with. Their contract is up at the end of Feb, 2020 and it could be a very interesting time coming up.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic: Fuck the UAW. They can't die soon enough. I've seen stupidity that makes the government look like a well oiled machine. And solidarity? Ha! These UAW guys would fuck each other for a nickel, and often do.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I have a friend who works at that VW plant. We talked about this before the 2014 vote so my memory may not be totally accurate.
According to him, VW has a "works council" which involves mgmt and unions (primarily the German union AGmetal) . If you dont have a union, your facility has no voice on the council which, among other things is where you advocate things like project funding and future product for your plant.

He also said the German mgmt wanted them to unionize - until the American mgmt explained the UAW to them.

quote:

Originally posted by nukeandpave:
I have a friend who works at that VW plant. We talked about this before the 2014 vote so my memory may not be totally accurate.
According to him, VW has a "works council" which involves mgmt and unions (primarily the German union AGmetal) . If you dont have a union, your facility has no voice on the council which, among other things is where you advocate things like project funding and future product for your plant.

He also said the German mgmt wanted them to unionize - until the American mgmt explained the UAW to them.

Unions are very strong and very popular in Germany. Yes the VW plant has a German style setup which requires a union for its operation. But the UAW isn't like German unions, it's not a partner or a function of the company. It's a separate entity, a parasite that feeds off its host.

The only people Unions benefit is the Slacker, the democrap politician and the union heads.

Vaalic-
That was the point of the last paragraph. UAW doesnt just leech off companies, it lies to and cheats its own rank and file members. They recieved 140 million shares of GM stock for the VEBA as part of the bailout - making them a major shareholder with a seat on the GM board of directors! When the FCA "training center" bribery story began to break and high level UAW officials (including the President and multiple VPs) were implicated - including their man on the GM BoD, they sold off enough shares (~40 million) to lose their BoD spot.

I only worked in a union plant once in my life back in the early 90s. And as others have said, fuck the unions. They took my dues out of my check every week and did not do one thing to help me, even when I needed them. Those leeches can piss off.