Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
The United Auto Workers is bringing charges against Volkswagen for refusing to bargain with a group of skilled workers who won a union vote at the German automaker’s lone U.S. plant in Tennessee earlier this month.
The UAW’s Local 42 says in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that a Volkswagen representative declined to recognize or bargain with the union Monday.
The federal labor panel last week certified the maintenance workers’ 108-44 vote in favor of being represented by the UAW. It was the first time the union had won a vote among workers at a foreign-owned auto plant in the South.
Volkswagen opposed the creation of a bargaining unit for the group of workers who are responsible for repairing and maintaining machinery and robots at the Chattanooga plant. The company has announced plans to appeal the decision to allow the skilled tradesmen to create their own bargaining unit apart from the remaining 1,250 hourly production workers at the plant.
Volkswagen said the smaller bargaining unit goes against the company’s “one team” approach at the plant. A union vote among all of the plant’s hourly workers in February 2014 ended 712-626 against UAW representation after heavy campaigning by anti-labor politicians and groups.