Volkswagen's neutrality has been challenged by opposition groups. They charge that the German automaker is, in fact, carefully orchestrating a plan to help the UAW win the election.
Some 1,500 VW workers at the plant vote Wednesday through Friday on UAW representation. The secret balloting will be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
On Monday, state Republican leaders accused Volkswagen of supporting the UAW and they threatened to withhold any tax incentives for future expansion of the three-year-old assembly plant in Chattanooga if workers vote to join the UAW.
"Should the workers at Volkswagen choose to be represented by the United Auto Workers, then I believe any additional incentives from the citizens of the State of Tennessee for expansion or otherwise will have a very tough time passing the Tennessee Senate," State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, said in a statement sent to the Free Press.
A worker opposition group called Southern Momentum echoed that position in a statement.
"Further financial incentives — which are absolutely necessary for the expansion of the VW facility here in Chattanooga — simply will not exist if the UAW wins this election," Maury Nicely, a Chattanooga labor lawyer representing Southern Momentum said.
Today's threat comes less than 48 hours after Volkswagen said it favors a German-style works council with union representation.
"Outside political groups won't divert us from the work at hand: innovating, creating jobs, growing, and producing great automobiles," said Sebastian Patta, Volkswagen Chattanooga vice president of human resources.
The anti-union forces now are countering that VW isn't neutral, it is pro-union.
Volkswagen said workers in favor of and opposed to UAW representation have had opportunities to distr! ibute information and talk to other workers.
"U.S. labor law requires VW to have a union in order for the works councils to be legal. If Volkswagen workers vote for the union it is expected to have a ripple effect on other auto manufacturers in the southern United States and their suppliers," according to Art Wheaton, automotive industry expert and senior extension associate at Cornell University.
"UAW International President Bob King has staked his legacy and reputation on the ability to organize a foreign automaker in the South. Volkswagen's global corporate philosophy and strategic advantage is having 'works councils' represent the plant workers and management in major decisions including locating new vehicle production," Wheaton noted.
In January, Volkswagen said it will invest $7 billion in North America over the next five years in its quest to sell more than 1 million Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the U.S. by 2018.
A new SUV is seen as key to reaching that goal.
Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen's global CEO, would not say where the SUV would be built, but Chattanooga is a likely site. Winterkorn said the decision would not be influenced by whether workers vote to join the UAW.
Volkswagen also has a plant in Puebla, Mex.
If workers at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee vote for UAW representation the union and company will form a German-style works council at the plant.
A 20-page legal agreement for a union election between the UAW and Volkswagen says that the UAW has agreed to delegate to the works council many of the functions and responsibilities ordinarily performed by unions.
"Our works councils are key to our success and productivity. It is a business model that helped to make Volkswagen the second largest car company in the world," Frank Fischer, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga said in a statement.
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