Tennessee Governor Bill Lee joined the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas in issuing a joint statement in opposition of the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) unionization campaign.
The coalition of governors said it is “highly concerned” about the unionization campaign, adding such efforts are “driven by misinformation and scare tactics.”
Today, I joined fellow governors in opposing the UAW's unionization campaign.
We want to keep good-paying jobs & continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector. A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks, to the detriment of American workers.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) April 16, 2024
“As Governors, we have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by,” the coalition said. “The reality is companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunity. We have worked tirelessly on behalf of our constituents to bring good-paying jobs to our states. These jobs have become part of the fabric of the automotive manufacturing industry.”
The governors said unionization would put their respective states’ “jobs in jeopardy,” noting how all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs this year.
“In America, we respect our workforce and we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch. No one wants to hear this, but it’s the ugly reality,” the governors said. “We’ve seen it play out this way every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation. And we are seeing it in the fallout of the Detroit Three strike with those automakers rethinking investments and cutting jobs. Putting businesses in our states in that position is the last thing we want to do.”
The governors said employers having “direct relationships” with their employees creates a “more positive working environment” as employees can “advocate for themselves” without “outside influence.”
The governors also pointed out the political differences between their states and the values of UAW, noting how the union group’s leadership “proudly call themselves democratic socialists and seem more focused on helping President Biden get reelected than on the auto worker jobs being cut at plants they already represent.”
“We want to keep good paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector here. A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks, to the detriment of American workers,” the governors said.
Tuesday’s statement comes one day before workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant are set to vote via secret ballot in their union election on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This week’s vote comes as the UAW announced last month that a group of workers at the plant filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the labor union.
The Chattanooga Volkswagen plant employs over 4,000 auto workers and is the only Volkswagen plant globally without any form of employee representation. The plant attempted to unionize in 2014 and 2019 but failed to do so.
Last week, Lee said it would be a “big mistake” for Volkswagen employees at the Chattanooga plant to unionize.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee. Background Photo “Volkswagen Chattanooga” by Volkswagen Chattanooga.
“The governors said employers having “direct relationships” with their employees creates a “more positive working environment” as employees can “advocate for themselves” without “outside influence.”
Every hear of the “Southern Labor Union”, it was created by the companies to keep the “United Mine Workers” away.
We had our Contracts and Health Insurance, but when push came to shove, the company always came out on top.
That is until the company decided buy coal rather than mine it and to fire everyone, violating a clause in the contract, and a few of us fought back.
After the NLRB ruled in our favor it still took a “Federal Court Order” to make the company pay about 100 men nearly a years wages, five years after the violation.
“Every force must be opposed by an equal force, to keep things in balance”.
Wish he put the same principles to work in his proposed legislation. He is a terrible governor. Thus proving that lots of money and contacts with high-level party members can get you elected as governor.