Volkswagen offered a deal to the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union: Please represent workers at our assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen offered their workers a German-style works council through which workers could participate in decision-making at the plant, guarantees that unionization would not affect the future of the plant, and broad support for a pro-union vote. The workers voted no by a margin of 712-626. Even if the UAW had won the vote, any Volkswagen worker could simply refuse to pay dues to the UAW - with no negative consequences.
Tennessee's senior US senator, Lamar Alexander, declared that Tennessee workers "have decided in almost every case that they are better off union-free. The UAW may not like this, but that is the right of employees in a right-to-work state like Tennessee."
Unfortunately, living in a "right-to-work" state does not mean that you have a right to work. In Tennessee, only 55.6 percent of the working-age population has a job of any kind, compared to 58.6 percent for the country as a whole. Work is as hard to find in "right-to-work" states as anywhere else.
In America the "right to work" means the "right not to join a union or pay union dues despite the fact that your co-workers have democratically voted for union representation." Under federal law, once a union has won the right to represent the workers in a workplace, it has a duty of representation to fairly and without prejudice represent all workers in that workplace, whether or not they are union members. In "right-to-work" states, recognized unions must fairly represent even those workers who refuse to join them or even to pay modest representation fees. Given the legal duty of fair representation, the problem with granting workers this dubious "right to work" is obvious. No union can survive for long in a "right-to-work" environment. Inevitably, workers who are facing financial difficulties, lazy about paying their dues, or just plain jerks decide it would be easier not to pay dues than to pay them. The right to work in "right-to-work" states is a right to freeload on your coworkers who pay union dues so you don't have to.
There seems no point in conservative politicians mobilizing business support to defeat a union representation vote in "right-to-work" Tennessee. Just 3.4 percent of Tennessee's private sector workers are union members. Yet, right-wing politicians and political operatives pulled out all the stops to convince Chattanooga Volkswagen workers to reject UAW representation. The anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation prepared a legal brief on behalf of five anti-union Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga defending political interference in union representation votes.
The anti-UAW campaign at Volkswagen had everything: a senator deliberately misleading workers; a governor offering Volkswagen hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars - but only if the union lost - senior state politicians openly making threats of financial retribution; Republican staffers secretly coordinating the anti-UAW campaign with notorious union busters; shadowy organizations with links to the nation's leading right-wing activists; an Ayn Rand-inspired anti-union consultant; and right-wing political fronts that purported to be groups of rank-and-file workers.
Unions are membership organizations so it is hard to see why non-members should be involved at all. But here is a list of those who interfered in the practice of democracy.
Center for Worker Freedom: A special project of Grover Norquist's American for Tax Reform. CWF Director Matt Patterson spent a year in Chattanooga spreading misinformation. After the election, he boasted that his strategy of involving workers' families and the community had caused "strife."
Bob Corker: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) twice told workers he had been given assurances that Volkswagen would expand production at Chattanooga if they voted against the union. It wasn't true. Never before has a senator misused his position to interfere in a union election at a private company in this way.
Jim Gray: Antiunion consultant Gray heads a South Carolina firm that has a "primary focus on union avoidance." After attending an anti-UAW planning meeting, Gray stated, "I'm just here to help out." It appears that Gray helped arrange the production of the antiunion campaign videos.
Bill Haslam: Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam offered Volkswagen $300 million in subsidies, but only if the UAW lost. Written at top of the confidential document was the following caveat: "The incentives described below are subject to works council discussions between the State of Tennessee and VW being concluded to the satisfaction of the State of Tennessee."
Peter List: A notorious antiunion consultant, List is the founder and CEO of Kulture Labor Relations. According to a profile in Fortune magazine, List is "a firm believer in Ayn Rand's philosophy of radical individualism" who "opposes all state efforts to regulate labor relations." In a 2007 organizing campaign, NLRB member Dennis Walsh wrote that in his effort to "persuade" workers, List had engaged in "patently unlawful" activities.
National Right to Work Committee Legal Defense Fund: The organization claimed that it only provided free legal support for antiunion workers, but the UAW has alleged that a NRTW lawyer was also involved in coordinating the antiunion campaign.
Maury Nicely: A Chattanooga antiunion lawyer who fronted Southern Momentum, Inc., Nicely told Reuters that his group had raised over $100,000 from antiunion businesses and individuals. Despite purporting to represent ordinary Volkswagen workers, none of SMI's funding came from workers, and few Volkswagen workers had any direct involvement with it.
Projections, Inc.: One of the country's leading "union avoidance" firms, Projections created three antiunion videos for SMI, which were shown at public meetings, put on SMI's "no2uaw.com" website and given to workers on flash drives so they could watch them with their families. The videos implied that workers job security would be threatened if they voted for the union.
Robin Smith: Chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, Smith compared the UAW to an "infestation" of "Ichneumon wasp larvae." When the NAACP expressed support for an investigation into Haslam's secret offer, Smith tweeted: "@NAACP supports @UAW at @VW in Chattanooga. Those allies tell the tale." As indicated by her comments, the Tennessee GOP establishment intervened in the election in a disgraceful manner.
Southern Momentum, Inc.: SMI was the one antiunion group that claimed to represent ordinary Volkswagen workers. In reality, it was another AstroTurf organization, headed by antiunion lawyer Maury Nicely, funded by antiunion businesses, and which hired expensive external union avoidance professionals.
Bo Watson: State Senator Watson and other senior state politicians threatened to block financial incentives for the company - which the workers understood would threaten their job security - if workers voted for the UAW. The day before workers started voting, Watson stated at a press conference that, "members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee," and that lawmakers would "have a difficult time convincing our citizens to support any Volkswagen incentive package."
Todd Womack: Corker's chief of staff was in direct contact with Tennessee politicians - including members of the Governor's cabinet - and union avoidance groups about anti-UAW messaging. Womack sent an email concerning the three Projections anti-UAW videos. Recipients of his message included Grey, List, and the heads of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and Tennessee Manufacturers Association.
The Volkswagen election showed the extraordinary lengths to which Republican lawmakers and anti-union organizations are prepared to go to subvert workers' right to choose a union. US business is vehemently anti-union for the obvious reason that unions empower workers vis-à-vis their employers. Representation is a matter for the workers to decide, not for their employers. Once workers have professional union representation, employers have a right to professional bargaining representation as well. But for employers to hire professional union-busting firms to prevent their workers from joining a union seems patently unfair. It seems even more unfair for elected political leaders to seek to influence union representation votes.
Maybe the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is right. Maybe union representation votes should be more like national elections. It is strictly illegal to seek to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters. For unions used to dealing with ruthless and well-funded opponents, a system as simple and transparent as a federal election would be a blessing. Every few years workers at all large companies could simply be asked: "Which of these candidates do you want to represent you?" Any person or organization that registered as a candidate could run, perhaps including the employer itself. Workers could decide. After a workplace election, all workers should be held responsible for abiding by the outcome. If the majority votes for a union that charges dues, all workers should be forced to pay their dues. Minority protections might allow workers to opt out of some union programs on moral grounds, but these should be the exception, not the rule. If a majority of workers vote in a fair workplace election free from company or outside intimidation that they would prefer not to join a union, let the unions take the bad with the good and come back in two years for a re-match.
The labor unions themselves have proposed a limited fix compromise: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The EFCA would enshrine the "card check" system, whereby unions can be empowered to represent workers when over 50 percent of the workers at a plant sign a card requesting union representation. The card check system avoids the need for a subsequent election once workers have expressed their pro-union preferences in writing. This prevents employers and outsiders putting undue pressure on workers to vote against union representation in an election, for example by threatening to close the plant if the workers unionize. Card check is better than the system we have now, but it is far too modest and not sufficiently democratic. It gets around the problem of political and economic coercion in representation votes by doing away with the votes. Sadly, Obama missed his opportunity to enact it, despite a pledge to do so.
Workers’ unions need more freedom and democracy in the workplace, not less. Current regulation of unions is anything but democratic. A free economy in a free society requires free workers.
From here and here at the Truth Out website
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Tennessee's senior US senator, Lamar Alexander, declared that Tennessee workers "have decided in almost every case that they are better off union-free. The UAW may not like this, but that is the right of employees in a right-to-work state like Tennessee."
Unfortunately, living in a "right-to-work" state does not mean that you have a right to work. In Tennessee, only 55.6 percent of the working-age population has a job of any kind, compared to 58.6 percent for the country as a whole. Work is as hard to find in "right-to-work" states as anywhere else.
In America the "right to work" means the "right not to join a union or pay union dues despite the fact that your co-workers have democratically voted for union representation." Under federal law, once a union has won the right to represent the workers in a workplace, it has a duty of representation to fairly and without prejudice represent all workers in that workplace, whether or not they are union members. In "right-to-work" states, recognized unions must fairly represent even those workers who refuse to join them or even to pay modest representation fees. Given the legal duty of fair representation, the problem with granting workers this dubious "right to work" is obvious. No union can survive for long in a "right-to-work" environment. Inevitably, workers who are facing financial difficulties, lazy about paying their dues, or just plain jerks decide it would be easier not to pay dues than to pay them. The right to work in "right-to-work" states is a right to freeload on your coworkers who pay union dues so you don't have to.
There seems no point in conservative politicians mobilizing business support to defeat a union representation vote in "right-to-work" Tennessee. Just 3.4 percent of Tennessee's private sector workers are union members. Yet, right-wing politicians and political operatives pulled out all the stops to convince Chattanooga Volkswagen workers to reject UAW representation. The anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation prepared a legal brief on behalf of five anti-union Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga defending political interference in union representation votes.
The anti-UAW campaign at Volkswagen had everything: a senator deliberately misleading workers; a governor offering Volkswagen hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars - but only if the union lost - senior state politicians openly making threats of financial retribution; Republican staffers secretly coordinating the anti-UAW campaign with notorious union busters; shadowy organizations with links to the nation's leading right-wing activists; an Ayn Rand-inspired anti-union consultant; and right-wing political fronts that purported to be groups of rank-and-file workers.
Unions are membership organizations so it is hard to see why non-members should be involved at all. But here is a list of those who interfered in the practice of democracy.
Center for Worker Freedom: A special project of Grover Norquist's American for Tax Reform. CWF Director Matt Patterson spent a year in Chattanooga spreading misinformation. After the election, he boasted that his strategy of involving workers' families and the community had caused "strife."
Bob Corker: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) twice told workers he had been given assurances that Volkswagen would expand production at Chattanooga if they voted against the union. It wasn't true. Never before has a senator misused his position to interfere in a union election at a private company in this way.
Jim Gray: Antiunion consultant Gray heads a South Carolina firm that has a "primary focus on union avoidance." After attending an anti-UAW planning meeting, Gray stated, "I'm just here to help out." It appears that Gray helped arrange the production of the antiunion campaign videos.
Bill Haslam: Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam offered Volkswagen $300 million in subsidies, but only if the UAW lost. Written at top of the confidential document was the following caveat: "The incentives described below are subject to works council discussions between the State of Tennessee and VW being concluded to the satisfaction of the State of Tennessee."
Peter List: A notorious antiunion consultant, List is the founder and CEO of Kulture Labor Relations. According to a profile in Fortune magazine, List is "a firm believer in Ayn Rand's philosophy of radical individualism" who "opposes all state efforts to regulate labor relations." In a 2007 organizing campaign, NLRB member Dennis Walsh wrote that in his effort to "persuade" workers, List had engaged in "patently unlawful" activities.
National Right to Work Committee Legal Defense Fund: The organization claimed that it only provided free legal support for antiunion workers, but the UAW has alleged that a NRTW lawyer was also involved in coordinating the antiunion campaign.
Maury Nicely: A Chattanooga antiunion lawyer who fronted Southern Momentum, Inc., Nicely told Reuters that his group had raised over $100,000 from antiunion businesses and individuals. Despite purporting to represent ordinary Volkswagen workers, none of SMI's funding came from workers, and few Volkswagen workers had any direct involvement with it.
Projections, Inc.: One of the country's leading "union avoidance" firms, Projections created three antiunion videos for SMI, which were shown at public meetings, put on SMI's "no2uaw.com" website and given to workers on flash drives so they could watch them with their families. The videos implied that workers job security would be threatened if they voted for the union.
Robin Smith: Chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, Smith compared the UAW to an "infestation" of "Ichneumon wasp larvae." When the NAACP expressed support for an investigation into Haslam's secret offer, Smith tweeted: "@NAACP supports @UAW at @VW in Chattanooga. Those allies tell the tale." As indicated by her comments, the Tennessee GOP establishment intervened in the election in a disgraceful manner.
Southern Momentum, Inc.: SMI was the one antiunion group that claimed to represent ordinary Volkswagen workers. In reality, it was another AstroTurf organization, headed by antiunion lawyer Maury Nicely, funded by antiunion businesses, and which hired expensive external union avoidance professionals.
Bo Watson: State Senator Watson and other senior state politicians threatened to block financial incentives for the company - which the workers understood would threaten their job security - if workers voted for the UAW. The day before workers started voting, Watson stated at a press conference that, "members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee," and that lawmakers would "have a difficult time convincing our citizens to support any Volkswagen incentive package."
Todd Womack: Corker's chief of staff was in direct contact with Tennessee politicians - including members of the Governor's cabinet - and union avoidance groups about anti-UAW messaging. Womack sent an email concerning the three Projections anti-UAW videos. Recipients of his message included Grey, List, and the heads of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and Tennessee Manufacturers Association.
The Volkswagen election showed the extraordinary lengths to which Republican lawmakers and anti-union organizations are prepared to go to subvert workers' right to choose a union. US business is vehemently anti-union for the obvious reason that unions empower workers vis-à-vis their employers. Representation is a matter for the workers to decide, not for their employers. Once workers have professional union representation, employers have a right to professional bargaining representation as well. But for employers to hire professional union-busting firms to prevent their workers from joining a union seems patently unfair. It seems even more unfair for elected political leaders to seek to influence union representation votes.
Maybe the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is right. Maybe union representation votes should be more like national elections. It is strictly illegal to seek to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters. For unions used to dealing with ruthless and well-funded opponents, a system as simple and transparent as a federal election would be a blessing. Every few years workers at all large companies could simply be asked: "Which of these candidates do you want to represent you?" Any person or organization that registered as a candidate could run, perhaps including the employer itself. Workers could decide. After a workplace election, all workers should be held responsible for abiding by the outcome. If the majority votes for a union that charges dues, all workers should be forced to pay their dues. Minority protections might allow workers to opt out of some union programs on moral grounds, but these should be the exception, not the rule. If a majority of workers vote in a fair workplace election free from company or outside intimidation that they would prefer not to join a union, let the unions take the bad with the good and come back in two years for a re-match.
The labor unions themselves have proposed a limited fix compromise: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The EFCA would enshrine the "card check" system, whereby unions can be empowered to represent workers when over 50 percent of the workers at a plant sign a card requesting union representation. The card check system avoids the need for a subsequent election once workers have expressed their pro-union preferences in writing. This prevents employers and outsiders putting undue pressure on workers to vote against union representation in an election, for example by threatening to close the plant if the workers unionize. Card check is better than the system we have now, but it is far too modest and not sufficiently democratic. It gets around the problem of political and economic coercion in representation votes by doing away with the votes. Sadly, Obama missed his opportunity to enact it, despite a pledge to do so.
Workers’ unions need more freedom and democracy in the workplace, not less. Current regulation of unions is anything but democratic. A free economy in a free society requires free workers.
From here and here at the Truth Out website
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