Union members are outraged over the hypocritical attacks by so-called 'conservatives' over the UAW's probable success in organizing autoworkers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The three-day vote of 1,500 eligible workers begins today, and the UAW thinks it will win. Anti-worker hypocrites are freaked out at the possibility that a strong union can gain a foothold in the plantation-loving South. (Oh and by the way, 'anti-worker' is not the same as 'pro-business.')
Grover Norquist says he wants a government so small it can be drowned in a bathtub, but he's paying for a government big enough to interfere with a private company's relations with its workers. Not to mention workers' freedom to organize into a union.
Politico reports
...one of Washington’s most powerful conservative groups, the Grover Norquist-led Americans for Tax Reform, is spending money to warn Chattanoogans that a vote for the UAW would help Barack Obama — and maybe take away their guns.Tennessee officials are threatening VW with a loss of tax subsidies. Reports Mike Elk at In These Times:
In the run-up to a union election, workers typically run a gauntlet of threats from management, including claims that a vote to unionize will jeopardize their jobs by hurting the company’s bottom line.
But in the case of an upcoming union election for Volkswagen’s 1,600-worker auto plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., set to run from February 12–14, the company has pledged to remain neutral during the union drive. Last week, Volkswagen even invited the United Auto Workers (UAW), which is vying to represent the workers, to come and make a pre-election presentation at the plant.
While Volkswagen has vowed not to interfere, however, outside forces have picked up the anti-union playbook and are telling workers that choosing union representation could endanger their jobs. At a press conference on Monday, Tennessee Republican State Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson and Republican House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick implied that state subsidies to Volkswagen could be blocked if the plant unionizes.We've complained before about the 'small-government' politicians who interfere with private organizations. For example, in right-to-work-for-less states, the government forces unions -- which do not get government handouts -- to pay for representing workers who don't belong.
We call that big government interference.
