Just two years ago, Volkswagen was actively supporting the United Auto Workers in its push to organize the company’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.þþBut in September, the German automaker was plunged into turmoil over revelations that it had equipped almost 600,000 diesel cars sold in the United States with software to cheat on tailpipe emissions tests.þþSince then, a large portion of Volkswagen’s senior management has changed — and so has its approach to the union drive. Now, rather than cooperating with the U.A.W., Volkswagen is trying to block the union.þþThe change signals a retreat from Volkswagen’s previous efforts to replicate in Chattanooga a German model of labor relations, in which workers have a strong voice influencing factory operations.þþThe latest clash came on Monday, when Volkswagen announced that it would go to federal court to appeal a recent victory by the U.A.W. Late last year, a majority of the Chattanooga plant’s 160 maintenance workers voted to accept representation by the union.þþThe rest of the plant’s 1,500 workers have not yet gone that far, but this month the National Labor Relations Board said Volkswagen must begin bargaining with the U.A.W. on behalf of the maintenance workers, who tend to the plant’s machinery and robots.þþThe company objects because it wants all of its hourly employees, including the production-line workers, to decide whether to accept the U.A.W.þþ“Volkswagen respects the right of all of our employees to decide the question of union representation,” the automaker said in a statement. It added that it would continue efforts “to allow everyone to vote as one group on the matter.”þþIn response to Volkswagen’s plans to appeal, the U.A.W. accused the automaker of flouting American law.þþ“At a time when Volkswagen already has run afoul of the federal and state governments in the emissions-cheating scandal, we’re disappointed that the company now is choosing to thumb its nose at the federal government over U.S. labor law,” Gary Casteel, the union’s secretary-treasurer and head of its organizing efforts in Chattanooga, said in a statement.þþThe linking of Volkswagen’s dealings with the union to the highly embarrassing and potentially costly diesel emissions matter reflects the bitterness that now exists between the union and the employer it once viewed as a partner, said Maury Nicely, a Chattanooga lawyer who represents a group of Volkswagen workers who oppose the U.A.W.þþ“Clearly the gloves have come off,” Mr. Nicely said.þþIn 2013, Volkswagen surprised many in American corporate circles when it began aiding the U.A.W. in its efforts to organize the plant — a stark contrast to the bitter fights at other nonunionized auto plants in the South.þþTo the ire of political leaders who opposed the union, the company allowed German labor representatives to campaign for the U.A.W. inside the factory, signed a cooperation agreement with the American union and chose not to object to a bid to have workers vote on representation — measures rarely seen in American industry.þþIt was part of a bid to re-create an important element of German labor-management relations — a works council, which is a committee of employees who negotiate factory policies with managers.þþUnder American law, a company can have a works council only if its workers are represented by a union.þþ“No question, Volkswagen was supporting the U.A.W. for that,” said Gary Klotz, a labor lawyer at the Detroit office of Butzel Long.þþThe Chattanooga plant started producing the Passat sedan in 2011 and was seen as a key element of a bid to greatly increase sales in the United States market. Volkswagen is now expanding the factory to make a mid-size sport-utility vehicle alongside the Passat. The S.U.V. is expected to start rolling off the assembly line by December.þþWhen a plantwide vote took place in February 2014, the union lost. The union continued its effort, though, and set up a branch, Local 42, in Chattanooga to carry on the cause. It focused on winning representation of maintenance workers, among whom it had clear support.þþBut then came the emissions scandal in September. The chief executive at the time, Martin Winterkorn, resigned. He was replaced by Matthias Müeller, who has replaced about a dozen top executives.þþBy October, the U.A.W. was planning to have Chattanooga maintenance workers vote on representation, but the company opposed the move. In December maintenance workers voted, 108-48, for the union.
Source: NY Times
