Volkswagen isn't opposed to a union, but Republicans are threatening jobs

[ashling]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/12/1276971/-Volkswagen-isn-t-opposed-to-a-union-but-Republicans-are-threatening-jobs?detail=facebook#

Workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant are facing threats of retaliation as they vote this week on whether to unionize, but the threats aren't coming from their employer. Instead, it's Republican politicians trying to combat union support even though Volkswagen is neutral in the vote.
In fact, Steven Greenhouse reports, "Volkswagen is eager to have a German-style works council at the Chattanooga plant." A works council is a form of workplace governance bringing together managers and workers and which would, in the United States, require a union. With the company taking a neutral-to-positive stance, though, Republican politicians are stepping in to intimidate and threaten as bosses often do in union representation votes:

State Senator Bo Watson, who represents a suburb of Chattanooga, warned on Monday that if VW’s workers voted to embrace the U.A.W., the Republican-controlled Legislature might vote against approving future incentives to help the plant expand.
“The members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee,” Mr. Watson said at a news conference. He added that a pro-U.A.W. vote would make it “exponentially more challenging” for the legislature to approve future subsidies.

[global1]

1. So Bo Watson Is Working Against His Constituents In His State On This One....

It will be Tennesseans that will be employed in this plant. Doesn't he want only the best for Tennesseans in terms of compensation and benefits. The better these workers have it - the better it will be for them to be able to spend money in the state and further benefit the economy of the State.

Doesn't Bo get it?

[spanone]

2. governor haslam should be jailed for his bullshit in this issue.

Haslam again speaks out opposing union at Volkswagen

NASHVILLE -- Republican Gov. Bill Haslam today continued to speak out against unionization of the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga even as fellow vocal Republican critic, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker says further comment by him before next week's vote isn't appropriate.

Haslam's latest comments on United Auto Workers Union efforts came during a luncheon speech to the Tennessee Press Association today in which he first touted Tennessee's status as a "right to work state" in his speech and later launched into yet more criticism of the union during a question and answer session.

"I’ve been fairly vocal in a way that some people have said why is it your business?" Haslam told editors and publishers attending the TPA's winter meeting in Nashville. "I think it is our business in the state of Tennessee. We have a considerable investment in that plant. The state of Tennessee put a whole lot of money in that plant."

He said "it's also an interest of ours because VW has been coming to us for a while" as the German auto manufacturer decides whether to put new car production in Chattanooga or in Mexico.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/feb/06/haslam-again-speaks-out-opposing-union-volkswagen/

[louis-t]

3. Michigan is now offering VW the same deal as Tenn. got.

Mayor of Lansing, MI who ran against our current Koch-sponsored repug idiot governor says "bring it here".