by Terry Bowman
Like a bad penny, the United Auto Workers (UAW) keeps popping up in Chattanooga, trying to stand in the way of a healthy relationship between workers and Volkswagen (VW). In two consecutive union campaigns, in 2014 and again in 2019, the UAW failed to gain the confidence of workers. Unfortunately, they’re at it again, rushing to scoop up workers at the Volkswagen plant.
Autoworkers need to be skeptical of UAW promises and motives, knowing that the UAW is at its lowest membership level since the great recession. This deeply personal decision should only be made after knowing all the facts, not just what they hear from a union hungry for Tennessee dues. The UAW can make grand promises to employees, but once they are organized can refuse accountability on any unfulfilled promises. Remember: workers cannot remove a union just by claiming they were promised something that the union did not deliver on.
Volkswagen’s Chattanooga facility employs more than 5,500 employees that earn an average of more than $60,000+ per employee, not including bonuses and benefits package. So, in reality, that number is significantly higher. As the employer, Volkswagen must follow strict regulations and laws to ensure it operates in an ethical and transparent manner. If the union is ratified as the exclusive representation agent of all hourly workers, the UAW contract will ban any chance for workers to negotiate directly with their employer and positively negotiate compensation and workplace improvements.
According to Workers for Opportunity, Tennessee workers have enjoyed being in a right-to-work state since 1947. In 2022, thanks to the support of nearly 70 percent of voters, Tennessee enshrined right-to-work into their constitution. Despite this protection though, even if workers choose not to join the UAW, all workers in the bargaining unit will be forced to fall under a UAW contract. While these contracts may have income floors, they also enforce ceilings to cap workers’ salaries. Any pay-for-performance structures that could benefit individual employees will be gone. And many union dues, once collected, won’t even stay in Tennessee. They’ll go to help fund the lavish salaries and trips of union executives or to fund political pet projects, virtually all of which are leftwing in nature – not reflecting mainstream Tennessee values.
The Chattanooga VW enterprise has been remarkably successful without any UAW union help, proving the strength, resilience, and talent of its workforce. The plant won the 2018 Environmental Excellence award by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, was voted as the Best Place to Work in Chattanooga in 2014, and received the Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award in 2020 for excellence in workforce development and education. The facility doesn’t need the UAW to continue operating as a first-class auto industry leader.
Besides, there is far too much sordid history, and too many incidents of scandal and corruption with the UAW, for hard working employees and their families to ignore. Fifteen UAW officials faced charges for a corruption scandal and two former UAW presidents were given sentences up to 28 months long for stealing millions of dollars, racketeering, and embezzlement. Even the U.S. Attorney stated the UAW had a “culture of corruption.” Clearly, the UAW does not reflect local Chattanooga values and cannot be trusted to fairly represent the interests of Tennessee workers, their families, and their communities.
Yet despite two failed organizing efforts and a history of corruption, the UAW still fuels another tiresome and expensive campaign to represent Volkswagen employees. As a Ford hourly auto worker in Michigan forced into representation by the UAW, I believe VW employees should (once again) be skeptical of the union’s sales pitch. Workers already have more personal finesse and power with management in a direct relationship and can together find lasting ways to make changes. In my 27 years as an auto worker, I’ve seen the UAW at work in both the local and national settings. I’ve also witnessed the federal corruption and a trail of broken promises. When union executives force an adversarial divide in the workplace, workers’ interests will quickly succumb to the influence of union propaganda.
UAW organizers succeed when they can somehow convince workers that they are victims, and the employer is the true enemy. Generations in my family have worked for Ford Motor Company. We have never considered Ford as our enemy, just as I believe Chattanooga workers do not see Volkswagen as their enemy.
Tennessee autoworkers deserve to keep their independence and their full paychecks. Let’s help them hold the line for their families and neighbors, and for the economic growth their hard work fosters.
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Terry Bowman (pictured above) is a current Ford hourly autoworker in Michigan.
Photo “Volkswagen Plant” by Volkswagen.
