The American labor world is about to go through a historical event. Indeed, on Wednesday, September 11, Bob King, leader of the United Auto Workers union (UAW) told the German and American media that a majority of the 2,700 employees of Volkswagen’s plan in Chattanooga (Tennessee) had signed the authorization cards saying they want UAW representation. Therefore, the union gets the legal right to represent employees within the framework of negotiations with the management in order to define a master agreement on pay, working conditions and employee representation. Thus, the UAW is about to win the bet it made in 2011, i.e. enter the foreign carmaker’s American factory. This will also help the German IG-Metall union and the central management of Volkswagen, highly involved in this change, to achieve their own goal: bringing a tad of German comanagement to the US. For the country, this is a precedent that will have a major impact on the entire sector, and maybe even more. After investigating, Planet Labor is able to give you the details of the operations to come. (Ref. 130539)
Majority in favor of the UAW in Chattanooga. “Yes, we have a majority,” UAW boss Bob King was quoted saying in the German and American media earlier this week. He says that more people keep signing. All of them combined will make a comfortable majority, much higher than what is required in American labor law for a union to be allowed to negotiated labor agreements with corporate managements.
Do you have information to share with us?