I hope Volkswagen has a forgiving spirit.
A few months ago, in the middle of a Republican attack on organized labor and the efforts of hundreds of workers at VW’s Chattanooga plant to organize in order to allow VW to form a “works council” to co-manage the plant the way it does at its German factories, Gov. Bill Haslam suddenly yanked Tennessee’s offer of incentives if VW chose the Chattanooga plant to build its new SUV model.
VW was considering two plants – Chattanooga and Mexico – to build the new SUV, which is supposed to arrive in showrooms in 2016. The plant expansion will mean hundreds of new jobs. If it comes to Tennessee, it will help solidify VW’s presence in Chattanooga and create new business for a variety of auto parts suppliers across the state. Chattanooga needs to win this one – dwindling demand for VW’s Passat sedan last year caused VW to cut about 500 jobs there.
But, in an attempt to muscle VW workers into rejecting the United Auto Workers, the Haslam administration abruptly withdrew an incentives offer, and Republicans stated publicly that future incentives might be tied to VW workers rejecting the union. Sen. Bob Corker’s own behavior – misleading VW’s Chattanooga workforce by, in essence, telling them that a vote for the UAW was a vote against expansion of the plant – was a disgusting abuse of Corker’s Chattanooga ties and his position as a Senator. You would expect Corker to provide more support for the city he once led – instead, he threw his hometown “under the bus.” His actions, along with Gov. Haslam, may very well have cost Chattanooga hundreds of jobs and robbed Tennessee of a stronger automotive industrial base.
The whole episode was a sad, disgusting exercise of raw political power. In essence, Republicans were offering VW workers a bribe: Reject the union, and the state helps secure your jobs.