Tennessee Volkswagen Auto Workers Reject UAW Union Representation

You knew something was terribly wrong when Republican Senator Bob Corker interjected himself as part of the government into the decision-making process of a private corporation and their employees. The “small government” Republican went as far as lying to the employees of the Volkswagen plant, telling them that if they went ahead an joined the UAW union, Volkswagen was prepared to take their business elsewhere.

Of course Volkswagen denied the Republican’s claim because, he made it up, but by then it was already too late. Corker’s lie worked, and the employees rejected the union.

Republicans rejoice. Lies, cheat, no matter what it takes. A win to these people is still a win.

In a stunning defeat that could accelerate the decades-long decline of the United Auto Workers, employees voted against union representation at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn., plant — a factory seen as organized labor’s best chance to expand in the South.

An official overseeing the vote, retired Tennessee Circuit Court Judge Sam Payne, said that a majority had voted against UAW representation by 712 to 626 — 53 percent to 47 percent.

“Needless to say, I am thrilled for the employees at Volkswagen and for our community and its future,” Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who had been vociferous in opposition to unionization at the plant, said in a statement on his website.

The plant’s workers voted by paper ballot over the past three days, with individual votes hand-counted after the election closed at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. The vote was announced around 10 p.m.

The Volkswagen plant has 1,570 hourly workers. If the UAW had won, it would have marked the first time in nearly 30 years of efforts that the union had successfully organized a plant for a foreign brand in the United States.

The German-based Volkswagen, which has a history of working with unions, did not interfere with the union’s organizing effort.