Southern Momentum, a grassroots group of Volkswagen Chattanooga workers who oppose the United Auto Workers, has released a statement concerning the results of the election at the facility.
Workers rejected the UAW this week by a vote of 833 to 776.
“We could not be more excited about the outcome of the election,” the workers said.
“We are happy for our families, for Volkswagen Chattanooga, and for our community. What started as just a handful of us grew into a force of hardworking employees determined to better educate voters about the decision before them. And now all of us have spoken. We are grateful for those in the community who rallied behind our efforts and thankful to our fellow workers who joined us along the way. We will continue to advocate for the best interests of our families and for the future of Volkswagen Chattanooga and look forward to getting back to what we do best: working as one team to build quality cars.”
As The Tennessee Star reported, one of the primary people fighting for the United Auto Workers to set up shop at Volkswagen Chattanooga reportedly had to settle a slander suit for his part in a nasty mudslinging campaign in Michigan.
This, according to last week’s Washington Free Beacon.
Joe DiSano, a Michigan political consultant, heads up the Center for VW Facts. DiSano reportedly accused VW of waging a “deceptive campaign to discourage employees” from becoming the first UAW plant in the right-to-work state.
“DiSano would know a thing or two about ‘deceptive’ campaigns. During a 2012 Democratic primary for a Michigan statehouse seat, he circulated a robocall accusing one of the candidates of ‘using the internet to lure young girls into nude modeling sessions at his home,’ where he took “dirty pictures in his basement,’” The Washington Free Beacon reported.
“The target of those robocalls lost the race and later filed a defamation suit seeking to clear his name. A judge dismissed DiSano’s First Amendment defense and the two parties settled. As part of the settlement agreement DiSano agreed to circulate a new robocall correcting the previous mudslinging and issue public apologies in two newspapers.”
As The Tennessee Star reported, Southern Momentum has run radio and television ads opposing the UAW in the Chattanooga market featuring Volkswagen employees who don’t want the UAW in town.
Southern Momentum first formed ahead of the 2014 election at the Volkswagen Chattanooga facility, which the UAW lost by a vote of 712 to 626.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Volkswagen Logo” by Mark Morgan. CC BY 2.0. Background Photo “Volkswagen Chattanooga Workers” by Volkswagen Chattanooga.
[…] June, The Tennessee Star reported that the UAW has had at least one other […]
[…] June, The Tennessee Star reported that the UAW has had at least one other […]
The lying thugs lose again. Go back to the rust belt that you destroyed.
Well done Chattanooga VW.
Good for them. Unions had a place and did a great deal to help workers in the past. Today with the need for a greater workforce, employers cannot be unfair and hope to get and keep workers. Why pay the union to do what most are already doing?
Unionization (or the need to) is a litmus test of the economic viability of a current economic state of being. In the 21st century when businesses are left to their own decision making process (as to the balance between wages and profits), they contribute to the success of the capitalistic economic model. When the liberal/socialist forces come into the mix, economic disruption is the result. Production is stopped, or in the case of the strangle hold the unions have gained on the public education system, teachers strike during the school sessions, disrupting the ability of parents to go to work. Unions are a result of the liberal/socialist mentality and have worn out their welcome.
Becoming a right to work state is credited as one of the changes that turned Tennessee into an economic success. While unions were needed in the first half of the 20th century, they are now a nothing more than a political faction that predominantly disrupt the education system in America.
Unions or the threat of same pressure companies to pay decent wages to their employees and even can pressurized non-unionized shops to raise their wages and benefits as an incentive for employees NOT to have to join a union.
The presence of “right-to-work-for-less” laws does not mean the absence of labor strife or even the absence of labor unions. In the 1980’s, despite the state’s right-to-work-for-less law, Tennessee then ranked 25th in the nation for union membership. That was way ahead of North Carolina which then ranked 50th in union membership. Unions still could put pressure on banks to disassociate themselves from right wing extremists by threatening to close their bank deposits.
Finally, Chattanooga used to be a strong union town with even some militant anti-war strikes over a hundred years ago during the First World War usually in the form of streetcar public transit strikes.