How the UAW could still organize VW's Chattanooga plant

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing, Volkswagen, UAW/Unions



The battle for the unionization of Volkswagen's Chattanooga factory is far from over. So say a number of labor experts who spoke to Reuters about the UAW and its failed bid to organize the factory's workers. This report comes barely a week after the union surprisingly dropped its appeal of the original vote.

According to experts like Larry Drapkin, a labor attorney in Los Angeles, instead of pushing for a large, factory-wide vote, the UAW could attempt to infiltrate smaller sections of the factory that are segregated from the greater workforce. The body shop, which is apparently pro-union, could be a prime target for the UAW.

The downside to this plan is that, like a factory-wide vote, it couldn't be done until February 2015, thanks to the guidelines of the National Labor Relations Board. The other option completely cuts out the NLRB, in favor of a neutral third party. The vote could be held either with the factory's entire workforce participating or just a portion, and it could be held without waiting a year.

The UAW could also push for a mix of both the "private" election and the segmented approach, according to one professor, who spoke to Reuters. "Through a private election, the UAW might want to carve out a group of workers among whom it has considerable support. That's a possible strategy," said Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Massachusetts.

Finally, the UAW could opt for a card check, which we've explained before. "The issue is do you use the government NLRB route, which the employer can insist on, or do you, as an employer and a union, agree to do some other method that legally may be used to determine the wishes of the employees," Ron Meisburg, a former NLRB member, told Reuters.

In the end, the best scenario for VW and the UAW might just be to wait a year, and hold a secret ballot vote with the backing of the NLRB, which Meisburg says has "the highest degree of integrity."How the UAW could still organize VW's Chattanooga plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 04 May 2014 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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