That the United Auto Workers won an election Friday to represent a small subgroup of workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga manufacturing plant is not surprising. After an embarrassing defeat in February 2014 in an election to represent all blue-collar workers, the union never would have called for an election it knew it couldn’t win.
What is sad and disappointing – but also not surprising – is that the union would have requested the election in the first place when it knew the German automaker believes attempting to organize 164 of its more than 1,500 production unit workers goes against its team approach in manufacturing. Officials also believe such a divisive vote is ill timed when the company is enduring a large-scale emissions cheating scandal that will cost it millions of dollars.
Although Volkswagen was officially neutral in the February 2014 election, unofficially it endorsed the United Auto Workers’ effort and paved the way for it to be the collective bargaining agent for production workers in the company’s German works council representation format. But this time Volkswagen was against the union vote and has even appealed to the National Labor Relations Board over the election.
“The decision to appeal is based on Volkswagen Chattanooga’s consistent position that the Chattanooga workforce is one integrated team,” the company said in a statement before the election, “and our One Team concept is a critical component of our success.”
With pay and benefits at Volkswagen never having been an issue, other than the UAW’s desperate need to gain a foothold in foreign car manufacturing plants in the South, it’s difficult to see what benefit will redound with the election win.
Indeed, the tone of Gary Casteel, the UAW’s secretary-treasurer, had echoed the desperation: “It’s just part of an overall strategy to get us to the bargaining table.” “Do we look at groups that get us in the door ? Absolutely.” And, “We said we were going to change up the convention, and we’re doing that.”
The union also previously had been thwarted in its efforts to represent workers at foreign carmakers such as BMW in South Carolina, Mercedes-Benz in Alabama and Nissan in Mississippi and Tennessee.
To be sure, though, the subgroup organization attempt, which it won 108-44, won’t be the union’s last. Look for it to attempt the same thing on any subgroup at any plant that might be broken off the whole.
What a shame, though, the UAW feels it has to break apart a whole – where the company needs and asks for unity – to try to get what it wants.