Workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga are concluding their voting today on whether they want a union but it’s been an odd fight. Rather than management objecting, it’s been Republicans who object. Some Republican legislators are threatening to withhold tax incentives for future expansion of the 3-year-old assembly plant if its workers unionize. The Governor says a union at Volkswagen will make it harder for Tennessee to recruit other new manufacturers to the state. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker also warns against a union. Anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist and a group called Center for Worker Freedom are renting about a dozen digital billboards in the Chattanooga area blaring anti-union messages. Volkswagen has tried to remain neutral but the Republican anti-union rhetoric and actions have caused it to issue a statement that outside political groups wont divert us from the work at hand: innovating, creating jobs, growing and producing great automobiles. VW intends to invest about $7 billion in North America over the next five years. That’s a lot of jobs. And unionized jobs pay better than non-unionized ones. So what exactly are Republicans afraid of? Could it be they don’t want their own workers doing better if that means joining a union? Does this remind you of Republican states that are rejecting expanded Medicaid funding because they don’t want their citizens to do better if that means more Obamacare?
Posted on: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:05:26 +0000
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