“Why else would VW allow the UAW to meet with employees while they were working?”
One article described VW’s management as “touchingly naïve.” They were trying to create the same type of worker’s council they had in Germany. And, the UAW probably led them to believe they would do that. But there’s no way. The union turns the employees into the enemy of management. The workers get rewards for finding violations, so, where I’ve worked, the workers set you up. At one place, they blocked my boss’s office with a file cabinet. Then they waited until he came back, moved it aside to get in and accosted him for moving it, filed a grievance and each got an extra $250 while my boss got written up. As a new and unbriefed employee I carried a $250k piece of equipment to a shelf behind a taped line on the floor. I saw they were eagerly waiting for me, but didn’t feel threatened. Suddenly they were all over me. Again, they all got $250 bucks and I got written up for carrying something past the taped line. Only union members can do that.
Yep, VW is naïve.
I assume all the mgmt that was around when their UAW unionized plant in Pennsylvania went out of business in the 80s has retired.
Poor corporate memory...
VW has apparently not done its homework about the UAW.