UAW Local 42 President Mike Cantrell, left, speaks to fellow Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga in this file photo.The head of the United Auto Workers local in Chattanooga on Friday asked a rival labor group at the Volkswagen assembly plant to disclose its funding.
The president of the American Council of Employees declined to reveal the group's funding sources, but he said ACE members are just trying to compete with the Detroit-based UAW.
UAW Local 42 President Mike Cantrell, in a letter to the head of ACE, said the group should tell where it is getting its financial and organizational support.
"Given the many competing political interests that have been at play here in Chattanooga, our fellow employees remain understandably suspicious about a group that does not provide full disclosure," Cantrell said.
ACE President David Reed said funding for ACE is coming from people "who want to put us on a level playing field" with the UAW.
Reed, who said he hadn't seen the letter yet, wouldn't be specific about how ACE is funded. But he said its support is coming from people like himself and others in the community.
"They've got Detroit funding," he said. "We've just got our own local folks trying to do what's right with employees."
According to documents filed earlier this year with the U.S. Department of Labor, ACE reported it had total receipts of $15,088 in the period between Nov. 13, 2014 and April 3, 2015. Its disbursements were $11,805.
The source of funding isn't required in the documents, but neither ACE nor UAW Local 42 are levying union dues.
Local 42 reported total receipts of $2,560 over the period covering last calendar year. It reported disbursements of $77.
The Chattanooga local has been operating out of office space at the International Brothers of Electrical Workers Local 175 at 3922 Volunteer Dr. ACE has leased space off Bonny Oaks Drive near the plant at 6178 Adamson Cir.
Cantrell said in his letter that he has heard feedback from VW employees as well as labor leaders who do not consider ACE to be a union, but rather a group "whose mission is to undermine employee representation."
"Given the many competing political interests that have been at play here in Chattanooga, our fellow employees remain understandably suspicious about a group that does not provide full disclosure," he said.
Cantrell said ACE's "mission is to undermine employee representation at the only Volkswagen plant in the world that does not yet have a seat on the Global Group Works Council.
Reed said the letter's contents "sounds like the same stuff they've been saying."
Both ACE and the UAW local are meeting with VW plant officials based on membership numbers in each organization. The automaker put such a policy in place last year, granting limited recognition to each group.
The UAW lost an organizing vote in February 2014 by a vote of 712 to 626.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.