Union Intimidation Continues at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Plant

By: Leon H. Wolf (Diary) February 19th, 2014

Unions like to claim that management frequently intimidates workers against organizing. The reality, in today’s world, is that management virtually always has a hostile NLRB breathing down its neck at the slightest sign of any technical violation, whereas union intimidation and harassment (which is also prohibited by law) goes largely ignored by the regulatory authorities. A perfect case in point is the plight of workers at the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who recently overwhelmingly voted to reject unionization despite illegal union harassment.  The head of VW’s union in Germany is at it again, threatening both to refuse further expansion in the entire South and also to block production of an additional VW model at the Chattanooga plant. 

These statements, made by a person who sits on VW’s board, are just as patently illegal as would be equivalent statements made by management threatening loss of jobs if unionization occurred:  In the United States, private-sector employees have the right to “self-organization,” to “form” or to “join” unions. As importantly, they also have the “right to refrain” from doing so. These are rights that have been enshrined in Section Seven of the National Labor Relations Act since 1935, which states:….To Read More….