VW challenges UAW election results in court

Union says auto maker is breaking labor laws

The Chattanooga Volkswagen assembly plant, located in the Enterprise South industrial park, is photographed on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Chattanooga Volkswagen assembly plant, located in the Enterprise South industrial park, is photographed on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The United Auto Workers union today said Volkswagen is breaking federal labor laws by not recognizing the results of a December unionization election.

The Detroit-based union asked the National Labor Relations Board to order the German auto maker to begin bargaining with the skilled workers who voted to join the UAW despite the company's appeal of the NLRB decision.

The federal labor board on April 13 declined to take up Volkswagen's challenge of allowing the union election among a group of about 160 workers specializing in the repair and maintenance of machinery and robots.

Volkswagen Chattanooga spokesman Scott Wilson says the company is seeking an appeal in federal court because the National Labor Relations Board "declined to fully evaluate" its argument that labor decisions should only be made by the entire hourly workforce of about 1,400 employees.

The UAW won the December election on a 108-44 vote, ending a decades-long losing streak in union elections among foreign automakers in the South. The UAW lost an election among all plant workers two years ago when workers voted 712--626 against UAW representation.

The UAW filed a petition today with the National Labor Relations Board asking the board to file unfair labor practice charges against VW for not recognizing the UAW, which the union claims gained representation for skilled blue-collar workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga from last year's unionization election.

"By choosing to fight the NLRB, Volkswagen is in clear violation of federal law," UAW Secretary-Treasurer Gary Casteel said in a statement. "We are asking the NLRB to order the company to immediately abide by federal law and come to the bargaining table with its employees.

Casteel said the company's appeal of the NLRB decision recognizing the union is "a stall tactic that won't work.

"The appeals court with jurisdiction over the Chattanooga plant already has ruled that clearly identifiable employee units within a workforce, such as the skilled-trades unit at Volkswagen, can seek recognition in order to achieve collective bargaining," Casteel said. ""We reject the company's claim that recognizing and bargaining with the skilled-trades employees would somehow splinter the workforce in Chattanooga. Recognizing clearly identifiable employee units is common in the U.S. Furthermore, Volkswagen plants all over the world - including in countries such as Italy, Russia and Spain - recognize multiple unions that represent portions of a workforce."

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