Posted on 02/19/2014 5:29:01 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Bernd Osterloh, who is the Volkswagen AG General and Group Works Council chairman, said that future investments in the South might be hurt if workers will not unionize, according to Reuters.
The comments come days after Volkswagen Chattanooga workers voted against representation by the United Auto Workers Union.
After years of quiet work by union leaders and a contentious campaigning period, officials announced Friday night that Volkswagen employees opted against UAW representation with a 712-626 vote.
But at that announcement, Volkswagen Chattanooga President Frank Fischer said the vote wasn't against the works council and that there is still support for that idea.
Osterloh said that, if co-determination isn't guaranteed, it would be more difficult to vote in favor of building another auto plant in the South.
"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," Osterloh said, according to Reuters.
The works council is a 20-member group that has an even division of labor and management representatives. They have to approve decisions about where to locate new plants.
Osterloh's comments have been the target of criticism in the past.
In the fall, Osterloh said that having a works council is important to producing a second vehicle in Chattanooga.
"We know how important that vehicle is for Chattanooga," Osterloh said, according to Reuters.
With help from the National Right to Work Legal Foundation, some VW employees filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Volkswagen America, in part because of that statement.
Some workers and lawyers thought the comments constituted coercion.
NLRB officials have since recommended dismissal of those charges, but not because his statement didn't qualify as coercive. Instead, the NLRB decision said that Osterloh isn't bound by U.S. law because he's in Germany.
After those comments that seemed to tie the union vote to local VW expansion, Osterloh also said there was no connection between the union vote and expansion in Chattanooga.
Some Volkswagen AG leaders, such as Osterloh, want Chattanooga’s plant to be a part of its works council system. It’s currently one of the only plants out of about 100 around the world that operates outside that system.
Because the National Labor Relations Act forbids companies to have an internal union, organizing the local plant can’t be done exactly like the German model.
Volkswagen AG leaders want a works council because it would allow them to stay in touch with ideas and thoughts from Chattanooga workers and come to future deals about working conditions, Horst Neumann, VW's board member for human resources, said, according to Automotive News.
In his most recent comments, Osterloh said that conservatives might be to blame for anti-union feelings.
Sen. Bob Corker and other Republicans campaigned against the UAW efforts, saying that it would hurt the state's ability to attract auto suppliers. They argued that the UAW has a bad reputation, in part because of its ties to the Detroit auto industry.
"The conservatives stirred up massive, anti-union sentiments," Osterloh said, according to Reuters. "It's possible that the conclusion will be drawn that this interference amounted to unfair labor praxis."
Despite last week's vote against UAW representation, some Volkswagen leaders still want Chattanooga workers to be part of the Global Works Council.
But it's still unclear exactly how that would work.
And Gunnar Kilian, secretary-general of VW's works council, told Reuters and The New York Times that he plans to come to the United States within the next two weeks to consult labor law experts and figure out the next steps toward reaching his goal.
Meanwhile, state and local leaders are in talks with VW in hopes of getting a new vehicle made in Chattanooga.
VW would normally love to build cars with non union workers in the USA, the problem is the krauts building them back home in the factories in Hesse, GE are upset at the thought of non union scabs are building Jettas in the USA. It scares those socialist krausts and makes them feel inferior. And VW loves cowed employees even if it means dealing with a union.
Maybe VW has a different take on unions that they way they operate in America. Here they are largely adversarial to business.
They want employee involvement, as I explained above.
It is the federal law which is forcing them to have a union if they want to work with representatives of their workers.
Bernd Osterloh, who is the Volkswagen AG General and Group Works Council chairman, said that future investments in the South might be hurt if workers will not unionize, according to Reuters.VW's high quality but needs a pretext for higher pricing -- unless this is just political posturing because the most conservative politicians in Germany are still leftists.
What part of what I said do you not understand?
The employees of VW at the Chattanooga plant voted not to join the union.
If they want a union, move the plant up north where unions rule the world.
Got it?
I’m sorry you don’t understand what VW wants and how our stupid labor laws require them to get a union if they want employee involvement in the running of their operations.
Got it?
Then VW need to move their plant up north where the unions are.
It is you that does not get it.
Hmm, he must have ultimately been convinced that “strength through joy car” didn’t quite sound proletarian enough.
Isn’t Bernd Osterloh a German unionist? Why is the media pretending he’s just some executive?
The NLRB shouldn’t exist.
It sounds like a heavy dose of Stockholm Syndrome.
Nonsense. Big companies have no problem dealing with individual employees. They set pay and benefits standards classifications all the time and HR manages them. Let’s not fall for that union “streamlining” lie.
Tell yourself whatever you want. It makes no difference to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.