Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting today on whether to unionize, and there's a lot of intimidation taking place (but it's not coming from the company):
Republicans like to say that they want to get government off the back of business. Evidently that maxim fails to apply when a business isn’t anti-union enough. [snip]
But the lead anti-union crusader has been U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the former mayor of Chattanooga. In addition to lambasting the UAW, Corker has said – in contradiction to the company’s public announcements – that Volkswagen will reward workers with a new product to build if they decide not to unionize. "I've had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga," said Corker. As Reuters reported, labor law experts believe Corker’s statement could very well be an illegal attempt to intimidate workers.
All in all, this is a lot of GOP meddling with a private business. "In my 20 years on the hill, I've never seen such a massive intrusion into the affairs of a private company," said Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh. Indeed, usually it's Republicans decrying any attempt by government to regulate the unionization process. So what on Earth is going on?
Well, a plant unionized by the UAW in Tennessee could potentially deal a blow to the right-wing narrative that anti-union companies in so-called “right to work” states are better for economic growth and job creation by providing a real-time counterpoint. If unions make inroads into foreign-owned auto plants in the South, the right-wing effort to claim that unions are something that ails business will be undermined. (our emphasis)That would be "moderate" Republican Sen. Bob "Bob" Corker. If a company engaged in the same effort to influence the election as Corker, it would be a violation of labor law. If there is a legal avenue available to hold Corker to account for his outrageous interference in a union election, by all means let's get that underway. Because if Corker can get away with this, other extremist Republicans will try to intimidate workers and companies in the same manner.
Obviously, what this also demonstrates is that many European companies are far more enlightened than their American counterparts (although the UAW has reasonably good working relations with Detroit automakers), and certainly more enlightened that the reactionary Republicans holding sway in statehouses and Congress. Good on Volkswagen.
BONUS: Michael Tomasky adds more:
[University of Washington labor historian Michael] Honey says he believes that Corker and other pols “are probably violating the Wagner Act.” That 1935 law set the basic conditions under which a union election can take place, later amended in 1947’s Taft-Hartley. It’s not completely clear whether local politicians, rather than management, can be found guilty of violating the labor law in such a way that a new election must be ordered. But I devoutly hope that if the workers vote no, Obama’s National Labor Relations Board orders a new election.
UPDATE: Looks like the intimidation worked. Now it's up to the National Labor Relations Board to certify the results; let's hope they order a new election, given the Republican-led intimidation.
