The conservative wingnuts are in full-throat crowing mode about this:
Just 87 votes at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee separated the United Auto Workers union from what would have been its first successful organization of workers at a foreign automaker in the South.
Instead of celebrating a potential watershed moment for labor politics in the region, UAW supporters were left crestfallen by the 712-626 vote against union representation in the election that ended Friday night.
The result stunned many labor experts who expected a UAW win because Volkswagen tacitly endorsed the union and even allowed organizers into the Chattanooga factory to make sales pitches.http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/uaw-vote-volkswagen-plant-tenn-ends-friday-22519817
The winning margin of difference was actually just 44 votes if you consider the swing factor.
Nonetheless --- here is what actually convinced the Tennessee laborers to vote against unionizing as well as defying the German Company's own publicly stated convictions that they would welcome a union:
The UAW was quick to blame the loss on public anti-union threats by right-wing politicians. Immediately following the election results, UAW President Bob King informed reporters, “We are obviously deeply disappointed. We're also outraged by the outside interference in this election. Never before in this country have we seen a U.S. senator, a governor and a leader of the Legislature threaten the company with incentives and threaten workers with a loss of product. That's outrageous.”
Last week, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Haslam told the Tennessean, “I think that there are some ramifications to the vote in terms of our ability to attract other suppliers. When we recruit other companies, that comes up every time.”
On Monday, two days before the election began, Republican State Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson and Republican House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick suggested that Volkswagen might not receive future state subsidies if the plant unionized.
Then on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)—the former mayor of Chattanooga—who had pledged the previous week not to comment publicly about the ongoing election, waded back into the debate to declare, "I've had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga.”
When Volkswagen Chattanooga Chairman and CEO Frank Fischer refuted Corker, saying the union election would have no effect on the SUV decision, Corker doubled down. "Believe me, the decisions regarding the Volkswagen expansion are not being made by anyone in management at the Chattanooga plant, and we are also very aware Frank Fischer is having to use old talking points when he responds to press inquiries," Corker said in a statement on Thursday. "After all these years and my involvement with Volkswagen, I would not have made the statement I made yesterday without being confident it was true and factual."
At a press conference following the vote announcement, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams echoed union president Bob King in blaming the loss of support for the union on the Republican politicians’ statements.
“When the governor made his comments, we saw some movement at that time,” said Williams. “When Sen. Corker said he was not going to be involved and then he came back from Washington, D.C., we had a feeling that something was happening. Forty-three votes was the difference, so it’s very disturbing when this happens in the United States of America when a company and a union come together and have a fair election process.”
The UAW also announced shortly after the election that it was exploring legal options and might petition the National Labor Relations Board to order a new election because of the threats issued by Corker, the governor and the leaders of the Tennessee State House and Senate.http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/after_uaw_defeat_at_volkswagen_in_tennessee_theories_abound
That highlighted section in the excerpt above tells the whole story. You had a high level Tennessee state GOP operative publicly insinuating that the company Volkswagen "might not receive future state subsidies if the plant unionized." (Can we say threatening quid pro quo)?
Next -- you have GOP Senator Bob Corker claiming that IF the workers vote against UAW unionizing, "Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture it's new midsize SUV" in Chattanooga.
The CEO of Volkswagen immediately issued a public statement basically saying Senator Corker's claim was pure horseshit. Corker's interference may very well be in criminal violation of The Wagner Act.
But apparently it was sufficient to frighten enough of the job-starved, low information workers in Tennessee to vote against the unionization effort.
And so what is the lesson here folks?
1. The right and the GOP are never to be trusted. They will lie, they will cheat, they will sell their own fucking mothers down the river if it benefits their cause and their sugar daddies.
2. Unions -- start appealing to the workers on an Elizabeth Warren level. Right now - you sound like used car salesmen.
3. The media - as usual - is absent in presenting the truth.
The Gadfly wishes the workers of the new VW plant in Tennessee well -- by virtue of the fact that the German owners seemed to have been just fine with the union, that signifies they will likely treat their new non-union employees with a measurable deal of fairness and good will.
Aside from that --- the only other thing The Gadfly can say to the Koch Brothers, their flying monkey supporters and their billionaire efforts to eradicate all unions and worker rights in this country --- is this:
----TFG
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