02-16-2014, 07:51 AM
So the workers at VW have voted.
No, they said.
We don't want collective bargaining, at least not as run by the United Auto Workers.
At least some said no.
the U.A.W. lost, with workers voting, 712 to 626, against joining the union. So in fact 86 people decided the issue. My poor math skills don't allow me to do the proportion/ration (?) but clearly it was not all the close.
Thanks to our political class.
From the pages of the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/busine...tml?ref=us
We learn that politicians were in the middle of this, as if it were a vote on the floor of a body in which they serve.
"Mr. King blamed Republican lawmakers for the loss. They made numerous anti-union arguments — and a few threats — to discourage workers from unionizing. Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, contended that auto parts suppliers would not come to the Chattanooga area if that meant being located near a unionized VW plant. Senator Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, said VW executives had told him the plant would add a second production line, making sport utility vehicles, if workers rejected the U.A.W. Mr. Corker and some outside conservative groups told workers that the U.A.W. had contributed to the struggles of Detroit’s automakers and would make VW less competitive — a view echoed by some workers.
Adding to the anti-union pressure, Bo Watson, a state senator who represents a Chattanooga suburb, said the Republican-controlled Legislature was unlikely to approve further subsidies to Volkswagen if the plant unionized. Some workers feared that his threat would cause Chattanooga to lose the planned S.U.V. line to a VW plant in Mexico.
“We are outraged that people in the political arena decided that they were going to threaten workers and that they were going to threaten the company,” Mr. King said. “The threats against the workers were what shifted things.”
Last September, his union said, a majority of VW workers signed cards saying they wanted the U.A.W. to represent them. Mr. King said his union was weighing legal action against what some union officials said was improper anti-union intimidation of VW’s workers."
Collective Bargaining is a Hot Button Issue, and folks here at the the RVF have come down on both sides, often with intense views strongly expressed.
My question here, is how much influence should politicians (elected by ALL the people involved) have in determining the outcome of elections about collective bargaining?
No, they said.
We don't want collective bargaining, at least not as run by the United Auto Workers.
At least some said no.
the U.A.W. lost, with workers voting, 712 to 626, against joining the union. So in fact 86 people decided the issue. My poor math skills don't allow me to do the proportion/ration (?) but clearly it was not all the close.
Thanks to our political class.
From the pages of the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/busine...tml?ref=us
We learn that politicians were in the middle of this, as if it were a vote on the floor of a body in which they serve.
"Mr. King blamed Republican lawmakers for the loss. They made numerous anti-union arguments — and a few threats — to discourage workers from unionizing. Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, contended that auto parts suppliers would not come to the Chattanooga area if that meant being located near a unionized VW plant. Senator Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, said VW executives had told him the plant would add a second production line, making sport utility vehicles, if workers rejected the U.A.W. Mr. Corker and some outside conservative groups told workers that the U.A.W. had contributed to the struggles of Detroit’s automakers and would make VW less competitive — a view echoed by some workers.
Adding to the anti-union pressure, Bo Watson, a state senator who represents a Chattanooga suburb, said the Republican-controlled Legislature was unlikely to approve further subsidies to Volkswagen if the plant unionized. Some workers feared that his threat would cause Chattanooga to lose the planned S.U.V. line to a VW plant in Mexico.
“We are outraged that people in the political arena decided that they were going to threaten workers and that they were going to threaten the company,” Mr. King said. “The threats against the workers were what shifted things.”
Last September, his union said, a majority of VW workers signed cards saying they wanted the U.A.W. to represent them. Mr. King said his union was weighing legal action against what some union officials said was improper anti-union intimidation of VW’s workers."
Collective Bargaining is a Hot Button Issue, and folks here at the the RVF have come down on both sides, often with intense views strongly expressed.
My question here, is how much influence should politicians (elected by ALL the people involved) have in determining the outcome of elections about collective bargaining?