Chattanooga Times Free Press Staff photo by Dan Henry – Class valedictorian Ian Gwaltney, left, class salutatorian Caleb Higginbotham, and fellow graduates clap as a classmate receives their diploma during the commencement ceremony for twelve graduates of the Automation Mechatronics Program on Tuesday. This class is the first group of Americans to be accredited with the International Automation Mechatronics Program.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam speaks to 12 graduates of the automation mechatronics program during the 2013 commencement ceremony.Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday that quality workers are key in competing for projects such as a new vehicle for Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant, and he lauded an innovative German-American training initiative at the factory.
“Closing the skills gap is among the highest priorities in the state,” he told the first dozen graduates of the automation mechatronics program at the factory.
Haslam said he’s “very optimistic” the plant can capture another assembly line to produce a second vehicle — reportedly a new-to-America, seven-seat SUV — but no decision has been made by the German automaker.
“We’re having ongoing discussions,” Haslam said, adding that groups are traveling between Germany and Tennessee. Haslam said he does not think that talk about a German-style labor board and potential United Auto Workers recognition by employees at the site is hanging up the SUV project.
While he and others have expressed worries that UAW organizing efforts at the plant will hurt the factory and state economic development efforts, Haslam said he’s working out a meeting with top VW labor leaders, who indicated they’d like to meet with Tennessee public officials.