"Joest" (Joest)
02/19/2014 at 23:02 • Filed to: None
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"Joest" (Joest)
02/19/2014 at 23:02 • Filed to: None | 0
| 8 |
Looks like VWs German Union want to block future VW plants in the South because of the rejection last friday.
(Reuters) - Volkswagen's top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized.
Workers at VW's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last Friday voted against representation by the United Auto Workers union (UAW), rejecting efforts by VW representatives to set up a German-style works council at the plant.
German workers enjoy considerable influence over company decisions under the legally enshrined "co-determination" principle which is anathema to many politicians in the U.S. who see organized labor as a threat to profits and job growth.
Chattanooga is VW's only factory in the U.S. and one of the company's few in the world without a works council.
"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the south again," said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW's works council.
"If co-determination isn't guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor" of potentially building another plant in the U.S. south, Osterloh, who is also on VW's supervisory board, said.
The 20-member panel - evenly split between labor and management - has to approve any decision on closing plants or building new ones.
Osterloh's comments were published on Wednesday in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. A spokesman at the Wolfsburg-based works council confirmed the remarks.
"The conservatives stirred up massive, anti-union sentiments," Osterloh said. "It's possible that the conclusion will be drawn that this interference amounted to unfair labor praxis."
Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a staunch opponent of unionization, said last Wednesday after the first day of voting that VW would award the factory another model if the UAW was rejected.
The comments even prompted U.S. President !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to intervene, accusing Republicans of trying to block the Chattanooga workforce's efforts.
Undeterred by last Friday's vote, VW's works council has said it will press on with efforts to set up labor representation at Chattanooga which builds the Passat sedan.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/0…
JR1
> Joest
02/19/2014 at 23:05 |
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I did notice Jalopnik tends to lean a little to the left. Kind of disappointing being more of a right wing myself. But the benefits of the site outweigh the cost. Just have to take everything with a grain of salt.
PatBateman
> Joest
02/19/2014 at 23:11 |
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Sorry, but the employees themselves voted on this. Theirs is the only voice that matters in this case.
Whether you're pro-union or anti-union, you have to respect their wishes. In a year, the UAW will be allowed back in the plant for another go. I have a hard time swallowing that the workers are not intelligent enough to make their own decisions for themselves.
With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
> Joest
02/19/2014 at 23:18 |
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Whoa, whoa, WHOA: Coercion? From a union?
ihm96
> Joest
02/19/2014 at 23:19 |
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http://jalopnik.com/vw-labor-head-… they did somewhat mention it here
Flavien Vidal
> Joest
02/19/2014 at 23:41 |
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They did mention it and even created a special post for it on the front page...
http://jalopnik.com/vw-labor-head-…
KillerRaccoon - Group J's Sébastien Loeb
> JR1
02/19/2014 at 23:46 |
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"a little"
bahaha. I go to school at one of the most liberal liberal arts colleges (meaning the liberalest of the liberal), and oftentimes Jalopnik seems on my school's level.
Leadbull
> KillerRaccoon - Group J's Sébastien Loeb
02/20/2014 at 02:59 |
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Still, we seem pretty mild compared to Gawker.
Shoop
> Joest
02/20/2014 at 10:59 |
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Most of the internet leans to the left