UAW Pushing Foreign Companies with U.S. Plants to Allow Union Votes
Companies that do not allow union elections violate human rights, said Bob King, president of the UAW, which is talking with some foreign auto companies that have plants in the United States about a set of principles aimed at ensuring fair elections. Such principles are necessary, King said, because National Labor Relations Board procedures are outdated and allow companies to intimidate workers and spread misinformation. Transplant companies are foreign-owned companies that have plants in the United States.
UAW is adopting this strategy because of changes in the global economy.
Fundamental changes in the global economy have demanded fundamental changes in the labor movement. Our mindset is not adversarial, and we do not seek conflict. We do not believe the United States can successfully compete in a global economy if we are divided and politicized.
Building Trades Backs Local Hire Drive for Tennessee VW Plant
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Volkswagen is building a $1 billion auto plant near Chattanooga, Tenn., after being lured there with a $565 million incentive package of taxpayer money. But, according to grassroots group “Volunteers for Local Hire,” many of the jobs building the facility are going to out-of-state and even out-of-country workers.
Last weekend, the group, along with members of unions from the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), held protests at 35 VW dealerships in 19 states, in support of the Tennessee group’s drive to win a “local hire” agreement with VW to ensure state contractors and workers have a fair share of the new work.
BCTD President Mark H. Ayers says protests are “not a union vs. non-union issue,” but that the broad support for the Tennessee workers shows people are “getting fed up with seeing their own tax dollars squandered on corporate welfare that doesn’t benefit them.”
