Tennessee Republicans are against union in VW plant even if it means that the plant moves to Mexico!

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Using tax incentives as political punishment
By Jay Bookman, February 12, 2014

Autoworkers at a VW plant in Chattanooga begin secret balloting today on whether to create a union, and VW management at the Passat plant is hoping that they do. The company uses what it calls "works councils" to communicate and cooperate with its work force, and it has such unions at every VW plant in the world except in China, where the dictatorial government forbids them, and in Tennessee.

“Our works councils are key to our success and productivity,” Frank Fischer, VW Chattanooga’s chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. “It is a business model that helped to make Volkswagen the second-largest car company in the world. Our plant in Chattanooga has the opportunity to create a uniquely American works council, in which the company would be able to work cooperatively with our employees and ultimately their union representatives, if the employees decide they wish to be represented by a union.”

However, the idea that employees might be allowed to create a union, and that management might find a union a valuable tool for increasing quality and profit, has outraged Tennessee officials. VW is considering whether to expand its Chattanooga plant to build a new line of SUVs, or whether to build that line in Mexico, and state officials are threatening point-blank to withdraw tax incentives for that expansion if the facility goes union.

As the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports:

Should workers vote for UAW representation, "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,” said State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga. 

Also, state Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, urged VW workers to vote “no” on the UAW. 

“The taxpapers of Tennessee reached out to Volkswagen and welcome them to our state and our community. We are glad they are here. But that is not a green light to help force a union into the workplace. That was not part of the deal,” the House majority leader said at a press conference.

Think about that. As Republicans, McCormick and Watson would presumably say that they oppose government intervention in business decisions, but they are clearly threatening to use tax subsidies to punish VW for what it believes to be a good business decision. They are interfering directly in a decision in which they have no legitimate role. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has hinted strongly that he too would oppose helping VW expand if the plant goes union.

And if that means that more than a thousand well-paying auto jobs don't come to their own community and their own constituents, but locate in Mexico instead, they're fine with that outcome. (Tennessee has a 7.8 percent unemployment rate, the eighth highest in the country.)

Because, liberty and freedom.
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