XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: dickskinner@uaw.org   
      
   When a union tries to gain entry into a workplace, typically the   
   company is the adversary that tries whatever it can to make sure   
   its employees side with it against organized labor efforts.   
      
   But in this week’s vote on whether workers at Volkswagen AG’s   
   sole U.S. manufacturing plant, a Chattanooga, Tenn., facility   
   where the Passat sedan is made for the North American market,   
   the company is neutral at best, if not actually in support of   
   the United Auto Workers becoming the workers' representatives.   
      
   It’s an unusual situation that anti-union employees at companies   
   targeted for labor union actions don’t typically face: a company   
   that isn’t on their side.   
      
   Under National Labor Relations Board rules, the UAW has been   
   allowed access to the Volkswagen plant and to lists of its   
   workers in order to distribute cards that workers sign if they   
   support unionization. If a majority of workers sign the cards, a   
   union is typically allowed to represent them, and to collect   
   fees that finance its operations.   
      
   The logic of forcing companies to provide this access is that if   
   workers are voting to unionize, the company can influence the   
   constituency ahead of the vote in order to build up enough   
   opposition to prevent union representation. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.   
      
   (NYSE:WMT), for example, makes no bones about its opposition to   
   unionizing its employees and regularly reminds its mangers of   
   that, as this leaked Wal-Mart managers’ training document shows.   
   (The world’s largest retailer is also currently facing an NRLB   
   complaint, which says the company “unlawfully threatened,   
   disciplined, and/or terminated” about 60 employees in 14 states   
   for engaging in strikes or protests over wages and working   
   conditions.)   
      
   But in Chattanooga, Volkswagen doesn’t appear to be an adversary   
   of the UAW. Indeed, the Washington Post said Thursday the   
   company is “campaigning for the UAW,” while Sen. Bob Corker, R-   
   Tenn., a former Chattanooga mayor, issued a statement late   
   Wednesday suggesting Volkswagen would reward workers for voting   
   against the UAW with a new vehicle to produce for the North   
   American market. Volkswagen bluntly denied this claim on   
   Thursday morning. Considering that Volkswagen has already agreed   
   to the UAW’s election principles, an unusual move by a company   
   facing the prospect of union representation in the U.S., if   
   Volkswagen opposes the UAW’s efforts then it’s betting that a   
   majority of its plant employees will as well.   
      
   Volkswagen’s apparently ambiguous stance is unusual. Rather than   
   the company playing the role of anti-union incumbent, like Wal-   
   Mart, the automaker's ostensibly neutral stance is a   
   disadvantage to workers who oppose unionization because it means   
   the UAW has had an edge in trying to convince workers to vote   
   for representation.   
      
   “That’s what’s been a little frustrating for our group,” Maury   
   Nicely, who represents Southern Momentum, a group of workers at   
   Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant who oppose efforts to unionize   
   the plant, told International Business Times. “The UAW has been   
   granted access to the property [in the runup to this week’s   
   vote]. This really placed us at a disadvantage in getting our   
   message across.”   
      
   Nicely, a Chattanooga-based lawyer for Evans Harrison Hackett   
   PLC, says opponents of the union movement inside the factory   
   have been on their own on an uneven playing field against UAW   
   efforts.   
      
   Meanwhile, it appears the weather in Chattanooga, which   
   threatened to hamper voting efforts at the factory, cleared up   
   by midday Thursday.   
      
   “They delayed production at the plant this morning,” he said by   
   phone. “It’s not a big deal right now. There’s talk among the   
   workers about whether they might extend the voting for another   
   day.”   
      
   http://www.ibtimes.com/southern-momentum-tennessee-vw-workers-   
   opposed-unionizing-says-its-underdog-uaw-pushes-represent   
      
       
      
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