Posted on 11/14/2014 8:23:25 PM PST by Olog-hai
The head of the German union representing automotive workers is speaking out against Volkswagen working with anti-labor groups at its plant in Tennessee.
In a statement issued Friday in Frankfurt, Germany, IG Metall President Detlef Wetzel called on Volkswagen to show its true colors in officially recognizing the United Auto Workers union as its bargaining partner at the Chattanooga factory once the union proves it has signed up a majority of workers there.
It is our objective to guarantee also under the politically difficult circumstances in the United States that labor union rights are respected and co-determination in the plant is possible, Wetzel said.
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If you like you SOCIALISM you can keep it.
But America will NOT stand for you German union thugs dictating policy to us.
If you don’t like it you can shove your beetle where the sun don’t shine.
I can take VW off the list of cars to buy, since they seem hellbent on ensuring that the Chattanooga plant is a UAW operation.
the directors of VW like things to be defined. there is less delta than if they went non-union, and then were forced by some means to become union further down the road,
than if the hit of being union were anticipated and could be planned for. Germans take their corporate governance seriously.
Corporate governance or government governance?
Germany is a social market economy. That binds the companies to the government. So “social market economy” could be another name for something older and, sadly, too familiar.
So, have they met the UAW? They are not like German unions.
You took the words right out of my thoughts.
I’ve thought about looking at VWs, but not not
if the dumkopfs knock boots with UAW goons.
You took the words right out of my thoughts.
I’ve thought about looking at VWs, but not
if the dumkopfs knock boots with UAW goons.
About seven years ago, my wife was determined to buy a Audi TT (we actually in Germany). We made the deal and were to go down to the factory to pick it up. Part of the deal was a tour of the factory. The guide was a mid-50’s gentleman, a worker off the line.
Most of the workers hired, as we found out....were individuals who’d done the apprentice program (15-to-16 years old) and gradually moved up to technician. The older guys from the 1960s/1970s were a fairly tough crowd and demanded respect for the job, the craft, and being absolutely correct when the car left the line. You could tell...guys were proud to say they worked for Audi, and didn’t want a substandard product.
The union in Germany works hand-in-hand with the company. They know how the profits slide if you decide to screw over the company. Drunks and dopers? I think your co-workers would quickly tell you to clean up your act...get treatment...or move on.
The car we picked up? You can go over it with list and look for faults...but you won’t find any. Other than a light bulb, there’s been nothing to fail on this seven-year-old car. I’ve yet to replace the battery. The German union might view union participation as a positive, like in their case. But you can’t find an American-produced car in the same quality.
Now, replace the line workers in your story with UAW members.
Allow the UAW in and eventually they will bankrupt your company, want proof? Look at Detroit. Case closed.
UAW screwed over VW the first time they tried this. What, is VW stupid? Is Jon Gruber a consultant?
Nowadays I’m hearing that corporate VW in Germany is discontinuing Audi’s five-cylinder engine in Jettas because they were losing money on spare parts sales.
What with unions acting up these days even in Germany, it sounds to me like the social market economy’s coming to a head.
File under weird Germanic by the books
In Germany the workers sit on the board of directors and exercise powers as little "Soviets" to adjudicate workers rights and to participate in the proprietary decisions of the board.
This is akin to a rent control ordinances New York City which in effect the vests the owner of real property, in this instance an apartment building, of the ownership of one of those units and, in effect, transfers the ownership to a tenant. Yes, the ostensible ownership remains in the landlord but the unit has become subject to so many restrictions that the beneficial enjoyment of the unit has actually been transferred to the tenant who might be able to stay in an apartment with a rental value of thousands of dollars for a paltry monthly rent and even pass it along under those conditions to his heirs.
This kind of "regulation" is really a way of undoing our constitutional property rights. If you as the owner of real estate cannot contract with a prospective tenant you are really not the owner of all the rights inherent to real property. So, by regulation, we have ripped out the backbone of the capitalist system and substituted a whole new idea of regulating life by regulation. Once that idea gains currency, there is really no stopping it short of bankruptcy because there are always more tenants than landlords.
This is akin to what the German unions would like to impose on America. If employees want to become owners of Volkswagen they should buy stock in Volkswagen and vote their interests. Otherwise our capital system provides them with the opportunity to contract if they can find a willing partner in management. Unfortunately in my view, our system permits them to contract collectively if they can qualify as the majority preference of the workers. This movement by the unions is even trying to undo that level of democracy.
If I was the head of a foreign car maker with plants here I’d loudly announce...in no uncertain terms...that the only reason why we came to the US was *no union* and if a union is voted in we close the plant.
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