Tennessee Republicans rehash old fight against UAW ahead of Volkswagen union vote

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Top Tennessee Republicans predicting economic harm if workers at Volkswagen's car assembly plant in Chattanooga vote to unionize are following a blueprint that helped GOP officials sink a similar vote five years ago.

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted 712-626 against unionization through the Detroit-based United Auto Workers in 2014, heeding the advice of then-U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, then-Gov. Bill Haslam and other GOP officials who urged a "no" vote.

During that election, Corker waited until voting had actually started at the plant in his hometown when he all but guaranteed that the company would announce within two weeks of a union rejection that it would build a new midsized sport utility vehicle at its only U.S. factory, instead of sending the work to Mexico.

After the loss, a smaller bloc of Chattanooga workers voted for union representation in 2015, but Volkswagen refused to bargain with them unless all hourly workers had a vote. Instead of dragging out the fight over the smaller group, the union has been granted next week's vote for all 1,700 of the plant's hourly workers.

Read more: https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2019/jun/07/republicans-fight-uaw-volkswagen/496231/
(Chattanooga Times Free Press)