Loss at Volkswagen plant upends union's plan for U.S. South

[Pooky 3,783]

The vote to organise failed 712 to 626, despite tacit approval of Volkswagen and heavy campaigning by the UAW and it's supporters.

Mind you, if you believe Sen. Corker, the management at VW were playing both sides of the fence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/15/us-autos-vw-election-idUSBREA1D1DP20140215

[Operator 1,927]

One of my clients just shut the doors on a manufacturing facility in Ontario yesterday. They could no longer be competitive because of the union wages. 8 of my employees (who were also represented by the USW) also lost their jobs, some of whom had over 20 years in that plant.

The company sold all the assets to one of their competitors here in the states (Alabama). As hard as I tried to tell my employees that voting in the union would hurt them and not help them they just wouldn't listen. It took about 5 years for the union to shut down that plant.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Operator

[Pooky 3,783]

If Volkswagen already pay well, with decent benefits, and maintain good working conditions, what purpose would the union have served?

[Operator 1,927]

As far as I can see they work really hard to screw with management and collect dues from the bargaining units. I used to think they gave their folks those cool jackets with the union patch on them but they don't, they have to pay for them.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Welcome to the south.

[lostinblue 1,989]

If Volkswagen already pay well, with decent benefits, and maintain good working conditions, what purpose would the union have served?

Make donations to fill the democratic coffers and support their liberal causes.

[Pooky 3,783]

Make donations to fill the democratic coffers and support their liberal causes.

Not to mention paying the union leadership rather too much money.

[GandD 5,966]

They tried that ####### at our plant like 5 years ago and it got voted down. Unions are worthless.

[Pooky 3,783]

They tried that ####### at our plant like 5 years ago and it got voted down. Unions are worthless.

Until the unions get back to the core principle of representing their members interests in the workplace and forego the overt political activism outside of those interests, they will continue to lose relevance in the modern workplace.

[deleted-05292014 331]

Make donations to fill the democratic coffers and support their liberal causes.

100% correct

[deleted-05292014 331]

The vote to organise failed 712 to 626, despite tacit approval of Volkswagen and heavy campaigning by the UAW and it's supporters.

Mind you, if you believe Sen. Corker, the management at VW were playing both sides of the fence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/15/us-autos-vw-election-idUSBREA1D1DP20140215

Politically speaking, the Republicans were against this VW union because the UAW is a big donor to the Democrat party. You even had a sitting U.S Senator, Bob Corker lie in order to sway the vote.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/volkswagen-corker-idUSL2N0LI05620140213

It's not just ideology, the major motive why Republicans today are against unions is because unions are the ONLY big money machine in the Democratic party. If you take out the unions then you have free reign of corporate influence who mainly donate to Republican causes in politics. I think it was mainly a strategic move. VW did not ever say they were against unions. .

[Pooky 3,783]

Politically speaking, the Republicans were against this VW union because the UAW is a big donor to the Democrat party. You even had a sitting U.S Senator, Bob Corker lie in order to sway the vote.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/volkswagen-corker-idUSL2N0LI05620140213

It's not just ideology, the major motive why Republicans today are against unions is because unions are the ONLY big money machine in the Democratic party. If you take out the unions then you have free reign of corporate influence who mainly donate to Republican causes in politics. I think it was mainly a strategic move. VW did not ever say they were against unions. .

Did Sen. Corker lie?

We'll find out next week, when VW announce their future production location. I have a feeling that VW were playing both sides of the field, on this one, so as not to upset the unions, but also to keep the local politicos on board, too.

[deleted-05292014 331]

Until the unions get back to the core principle of representing their members interests in the workplace and forego the overt political activism outside of those interests, they will continue to lose relevance in the modern workplace.

Ideological argument, not all unions are involved in making political contributions. It is their right to do that if they want. I think some companies take very good care of their employees and address the grievances between the management and workers, as I have read VW does. There are also some bad companies that exploit workers and create conditions that are dangerous to them and do not care. At the same token there are good unions and then there are poorly managed unions.

Workers in a union have more say over how that union is ran than workers in a corporation have a say in how that business is ran. I'm not saying whether that is good or bad only to prove my point that if a worker does not like what his union is doing or how he is representing him he can vote for change. In the VW case if after a year the workers didn't see any benefit to the union they could have voted to disband it.

I support all of the unions that employ mainly low wage workers such as the United Food & Commercial Workers. http://www.ufcw.org/

Reagan destroyed unions. He gets credit for that. Unions aren't even that significant anymore. Have to research but last I heard only 30-25% of the work force in America is unionized.

[deleted-05292014 331]

Did Sen. Corker lie?

We'll find out next week, when VW announce their future production location. I have a feeling that VW were playing both sides of the field, on this one, so as not to upset the unions, but also to keep the local politicos on board, too.

Yes perhaps you are right and they did. To me it's all about democracy. The people voted and that's that. It's their work environment and they should not be influenced by either the Left or the Right. But as in life, all things are political so kind of hard to get it out of the dialog.

[Pooky 3,783]

Yes perhaps you are right and they did. To me it's all about democracy. The people voted and that's that. It's their work environment and they should not be influenced by either the Left or the Right. But as in life, all things are political so kind of hard to get it out of the dialog.

The whole campaign for the vote was political, with little to nothing to do with the pay and conditions of the workers at the plant.

As stated previously, VW are a good employer, with decent pay and benefits and a record of playing fair with their employees. With that in mind, and being the supposed core reason for workplace unions, what was the point of this two-year campaign, if not political?