It’s one man’s opinion, of course, but a report that the future of Chattanooga’s Volkswagen rests on the upcoming labor contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) must be quite a stunning moment for all those who worked so hard to bring the manufacturing plant here in 2008.
Until the UAW vote in April, it went without saying that the future of the plant depended on designing, making and selling vehicles that buyers across the globe wanted to purchase.
And that was UAW’s spin, too. They just wanted VW to be the world’s most successful automobile company, but just under a union banner.
However, report author Yen Chen of the Center for Automotive Research told this newspaper’s Mike Pare, “Unless Volkswagen is willing to invest more and make the plant a high production level (facility), the plant’s future could be jeopardized in my opinion.”
Let’s unpack that a bit.