Wyatt earp
Diamond Member
- Apr 21, 2012
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this will be interesting next week
Volkswagen union vote: Chattanooga, Tenn, could be labor rally point
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Volkswagen union vote: Chattanooga, Tenn, could be labor rally point
Workers at the Volkswagen assembly plan in Chattanooga, Tenn., will vote next week on whether to join the United Auto Workers union.
If the majority of the nearly 2,000 hourly employees decide to become part of the UAW, unionization in the U.S. could take a major step forward, said one analyst.
"It would symbolically be a major victory for organized labor," explained Jason Bent, a professor of employment law at Stetson University College of Law.
Bent added that because the vote is in a Southern right-to-work state that has been resistant to unionization, it's a major opportunity for organizing across the region.
(Read more: Private firms create fewer jobs than expected)
But if the vote goes negative, unions will likely suffer a big setback, said James Matthews III, an employment lawyer with Fox Rothschild.
"It would be a major black eye for the UAW," explained Matthews. "You have a situation where the company agreed to an election and you still can't get a majority vote. It doesn't say much for the UAW and labor."
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The secret-ballot vote in Chattanooga, scheduled for Feb. 12-14, was set by the National Labor Relations Board after Germany-based Volkswagen and the UAW reached an agreement Tuesday to let the workers have their say.