Workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee will hold their union certification vote this week. As the plant prepared for the potential to revolutionize labor relations in the U.S., their Senator, Bo Watson, released a statement suggesting that if the union failed its certification vote more work would be brought to the plant. Similar statements were made by Senator and former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, who compared present-day Detroit to Chattanooga?s future should the UAW be allowed to organize the workers. The rhetoric runs contrary to some of VW?s promises to bring new work to the plant regardless of the outcome of the election. If the vote succeeds, the Chattanooga plant would be the first foreign-owned car manufacturing operation to have its workers represented by a U.S. union.
See "Union Drive Doesn?t Bother Management, but G.O.P. Fumes", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, February 12, 2014