A business’ attempt to collaborate with workers may provide an auto union a long-sought foothold in right-to-work Tennessee, which experts suggested could end up hurting employees.
United Auto Worker Region 8 director Gary Casteel claimed that a majority of the 2,500 workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga manufacturing facility had signed card check forms, which would grant the union exclusive representationrights at the facility.
This wasn’t a typical example of a union organizing: It was the company, not the union, that raised the issue of giving workers a voice in the plant’s operations.
VW, a German company, approached the Tennessee manufacturing plant earlier this month, hinting that it would not receive additional investments if it did not establish an European-model works council to represent employee interests.
“When I toured the Chattanooga plant and spoke with workers, I found little evidence of any job dissatisfaction … all anyone could talk about was the number of applicants and how lucky they felt to have such a good job,” one auto analyst told theWashington Free Beacon on condition of anonymity.
Works councils provide employees with direct representation to management in worker safety and plant operations. They differ from American unions in one respect, according to Lipscomb University economics professor Richard Grant.
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