Tennessee lawmakers threaten VW auto plant unionization

DETROIT – The crusade by anti-union forces in Tennessee is now as much a fight with Volkswagen management as with the United Auto Workers union.

Volkswagen’s neutrality has been challenged by opposition groups who charge that the German automaker is, in fact, engaged in a carefully orchestrated plan to help the UAW win an election at the 3-year-old assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

On Monday, state Republican leaders accused Volkswagen of supporting the UAW and threatened to withhold any tax incentives for future expansion if workers vote later this week to join the UAW. For Tennessee, that could mean forgoing a potential $1 billion investment.

“It has been widely reported that Volkswagen has promoted a campaign that has been unfair, unbalanced, and, quite frankly, un-American in the traditions of American labor campaigns,” state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, said in a statement.

Chattanooga has become ground zero for the battle over the future of labor and manufacturing in the South as a result of a UAW organizing campaign that began about two years ago.

While Volkswagen has tried to stay above the fray by claiming neutrality, it has become clear that the world’s second-largest automaker favors the formation of a union.

That gives the UAW an advantage it rarely enjoys in a high-profile election. But Republican politicians and interest groups are applying heavy pressure on workers to reject the UAW.

“Should the workers at Volkswagen choose to be represented by the United Auto Workers, then I believe any additional incentives from the citizens of the state of Tennessee for expansion or otherwise will have a very tough time passing the Tennessee Senate,” Watson said.

Monday’s threats come less than 48 hours after Volkswagen said it favors a German-style works with union representation.

An election to decide on representation will be held Wednesday through Friday and will be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. About 1,500 of Volkswagen’s 2,500 hourly workers will be eligible to vote in the election.