Labor notes from Tennessee

VWChattanoogaHilarious: Steven Pearlstein column gloats re: unstoppable UAW-at-Volkswagen tide of history, reaches print after vote [WaPo; “claque,” “rabid,” “Babbitts,” etc.] “We also looked at the track record of the UAW. Why buy a ticket on the Titanic?” [Reuters] “No wonder they wanted card check.” [Mickey Kaus; more, Kevin Williamson]

One Comment

  • Don’t count the UAW out, they have the NLRB in their pocket. They have about a week from the date of the election to file “Objections” with Obama’s NLRB, which will probably sustain them, and either require a second election, or demand that VW bargain with it on the basis of cards signed before the election. The UAW will probably allege that the threats and conduct of TN’s politicians, from Senator Corker on down, as well as other community leaders, “interfered with, restrained and coerced” the voters by their threats of reprisals in stifling expansion plans, etc. You can’t count on VW fighting this, they are under the gun from their unions on the Board in Germany. Don’t denigrate this post; there is plenty of precedent from the 50’s when the textile unions “Operation Dixie” ran up against town fathers trying to organize the textile mills in the South, and the NLRB often ruled for the unions.