United Auto Workers President Bob King (left) and Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams at the Chattanooga Electrical Apprenticeship and Training Centre in Tennessee.
HAMBURG: Volkswagen’s works council said it would press on with efforts to set up labour representation at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, after workers there voted against any such step involving the United Auto Workers union (UAW).
Employees at the plant, in a region traditionally hostile to organised labour, on Friday opted to reject representation by the union, whose membership has plummeted 75 percent since 1979 and now stands at just under 400,000.
“The outcome of the vote, however, does not change our goal of setting up a works council in Chattanooga,” Gunnar Kilian, secretary general of VW’s works council said in a statement yesterday, adding workers continued to back the idea of labour representation at the plant.
Opposition to UAW involvement stemmed from concerns among many workers that a union would strain cordial relations with the company, which pays well by local and US auto industry standards.
Some experts contend that VW needs a labour union in the United States to help set up a works council in Chattanooga, where it builds the mid-sized Passat Sedan.
“We were able to garner support from highly specialised US labour law experts and we will start consulting with them in the next two weeks to define further steps,” Kilian said.
He added that he would travel to the United States with Frank Patta, secretary general of Volkswagen’s global works council, to hold talks.
Reuters
