Posted on 04/23/2024 6:47:47 AM PDT by Twotone
Volkswagen workers at an automotive plant in Tennessee voted to unionize Friday, becoming the first southern car manufacturer to do so since the 1940s, the Washington Post reported.
Roughly 75% of the 3,613 workers employed at the plant voted in favor of joining the United Auto Workers(UAW) union over the course of the election, according to a Volkswagen press release. The vote to unionize was opposed by a coalition of six Republican governors in the region, citing concerns that a stronger union presence could lead to fewer companies investing in new factories and, by extension, fewer jobs, the Washington Post reported.
“We the Governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are highly concerned about the unionization campaign driven by misinformation and scare tactics that the UAW has brought into our states,” a joint statement signed by the governors says.
“Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy—in fact, in this year already, all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs,” the statement continues. “We’ve seen it play out this way every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation”
The UAW is launching a campaign across the southern United States to increase unionization at car factories, targeting states like Texas and Alabama.
Automakers have been increasing their presence in the south, which has historically had weaker union laws, since the 1970s, according to CNN.
President Joe Biden had a more positive response to the unionization in Tennessee than the six southern Republican governors.
“Union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle-class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers,” the president said in a statement following the unionization vote.
“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose,” he continued. Biden argued that union growth is tied to the growth of jobs and small businesses.
Unions pump tens of millions of dollars into Democratic causes every year, according to OpenSecrets.
Though unions have enjoyed some recent wins, according to the Washington Post, the unionization rate fell to an all-time low in 2023 despite the support of the Biden administration.
Volkswagen and the UAW did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
plant will be closed within 10 years
You think cars are too expensive now, wait until union thugs are the only ones making them.
Looks like Volkswagen is having trouble shaking off its socialist origins.
The union will help the Krauts keep order.
I’d actually predict that plant in Mexico is planned and announced by the end of 2025. Tenn plant? It’ll be closed by 2028.
They built the plant in a right to work state for that very reason. Now this. I smell a rat. Electronic voting machines involved by chance?
They make the VW Electric ID4................
The end of the beginning?
Nope!
It’s the beginning of the end.
Does the UAW still insist that every worker SIGN their vote?
Foolish in this day and age. How much will they take out of your paycheck each week. Kinda like paying for protection.
VW builds the ID.4 electric and Atlas SUV there.
VW also has several plants in Mexico.
My guess is that the factory will be closed at the next economic downturn, and that it will be in less than 10 years.
the free market should be allowed to operate without government interference or the influence of special interest groups like unions.
Well, not in the U.S.
Hello, Mexico.
They make some sort of electric vehicle nonsense.
It will be closed much sooner than 10 years.
Abolish unions as they fuel inflation.
Employers should be able to raise the pay of good workers and not everybody at one time!
Vote themselves out of jobs.
There are other places that the manufacturers can go where they don’t have to deal with unions.
I just watched two videos about the auto industry. It’s funny because the guy said the auto worker’s union needs to go on strike to slow or stop production for a while. Dealerships are full of cars they can’t sell. The price of a regular size Dodge Ram pickup truck is $116,000. The lot had a bunch of them. The price of new cars are ridiculous. A cheap SUV is $47,000. With inflation eating away at people’s disposable income it’s not hard to see what’s happening. It also said there aren’t enough tow trucks to keep up with all the repossessions. Things aren’t looking good for the industry. The only car that came down in price was the entry level Tesla. You can get one for around $20,000. I would never buy a brand new car, especially in today’s market.
ID4 = $40,000-$50,000 per pop ... not chargeable at most tesla charging stations ... VWs suck anyway, so can’t imagine how badly an ELECTRIC VW sucks, esp. at $50,000 for a car good mostly for running errands about town during the spring and autumn ...
CORRECT TITLE:
AUTO WORKERS VOTED THEMSELVES OUT OF A JOB & HAVE CONTAMINATED ANY FUTURE EMPLOYMENT THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD-—
FUTURE HEADLINES:
THOUSANDS OF MORTGAGES ARE BEING FORECLOSED.
RENTERS ARE BEING EVICTED.
FORMER UNION AUTO WORKERS ARE HOMELESS
NONE UNDERSTAND WHY
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