Roy Exum: UAW Booted In Alabama

Temperatures from Maine to Miami are 10-to-25 degrees below normal this weekend but, in Hamilton, Ala., it is considerably colder -- workers at the NTM-Bower Corporation voted overwhelmingly to kick out the United Auto Workers union, even if it did take four times for the UAW to get the message.

In a comical series of earlier elections – in one there were eight more ballots than eligible employees – it was obvious the National Labor Relations Board was trying to assist the balking UAW (which lost the other two elections).

But finally this week a vote of 82-50 left no doubt the majority of workers no longer wish to be represented by the UAW and it is believed the shunned union has already been decertified at the plant that makes ball-bearings.

The NTM-Bower decision is bigger than it appears because it sends a clear message to workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, as well as auto assembly plants in Alabama and Mississippi, to beware of organized labor’s desperate attempts to organize before this summer’s pivotal meetings with the “Big Three” automakers in Detroit.

Michigan is now a right-to-work state and it is believed some employees will ditch the union after the new contracts are signed and the new dues are set. Terry Bowman, a UAW-Ford employee and founder of Union Conservatives, Inc., wrote a bold opinion in the Detroit News that claimed, “Many workers feel no benefit from union membership and are angry that their dues are used to fund a far-left political agenda.”

He added, “The union may try intimidation or legal and strategic tactics to deny workers their rights, but ultimately they cannot stop the inevitable growth of freedom and choice in the work place … UAW executives must realize that a new contract must not only be a contract with employers, but with the union and worker as well.”

Dennis Williams, the UAW president, told Reuters reporters this week it would be an “injustice” if UAW workers don’t get a raise in hourly base wages, this for the first time in about 10 years, and wants to greatly reduce the differences in the two-tier payment formula that divides a veteran worker from a newcomer. Veteran workers now make $28 an hour while entry-level workers are paid $15.78 to start.

But Williams knows General Motors, Ford and Chrysler can ill-afford to add huge payroll costs to their products and still be competitive with non-union manufacturers. Already there is roughly $1,500 of union cost in each UAW-built vehicle and with union popularity at an all-time low, that’s a cause for many consumers to buy “transplant” cars – those built in America by foreign companies like Volkswagen.

Another huge worry was reflected in the first executive order new Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner just signed. It will block unions from collecting money from non-union public employees who are forced to pay fees to be represented. About 6,000 non-union workers are affected by “fair share fees” and other right-to-work states are watching closely.

Governor Rauner says “fair share fees” are ridiculous. He told Fox News, “The structure that is currently in place, inside government, forcing government employees to pay union dues, even if they don’t want to be in a union -- that is fundamentally unconstitutional and it is against the American system of freedom of choice.”

The Washington Times had a funny story in its Friday editions entitled “The Chattanooga Boo-Hoo.”  The story likened VW to a spurned lover, since it was on Valentine’s Day last year that the UAW was voted down at the Chattanooga plant. The story accused the UAW of courting VW with “a ghost union.” The editorial read, in part:

“The UAW did not lose gracefully. Like a spurned suitor, it threw a temper tantrum, and persuaded the NLRB to deliver federal subpoenas to those the union said had ‘interfered’ with the election, including several nonprofit advocacy groups. Finally realizing they had no case, the union dropped the challenges to the election and moved on to phase two of jilted lover syndrome, stalking. Though told to get lost, the union took up residence at Volkswagen, anyway.

“Union officials organized a nonbinding, non-union union called Local 42, sort of like a fraternity or sorority, and opened rush week, signing up “members.” If they could gather enough signatures for their club to meet the threshold, maybe the company would recognize Local 42 as the exclusive bargaining representative without the inconvenience of another election. Then workers who had led the opposition to organizing, organized their own non-union union, and called it the American Council of Employees (ACE).”

The story outlined VW’s “bizarre document” called a Community Organization Engagement, that would “enable both suitors to compete for the affections of both management and workers.”

Then came the zinger: The editorial explained that, under federal law neither group “can bargain, they can’t negotiate wages, hours or working conditions. ‘So what will ACE be discussing with management that is of ‘general interest’ to its members?,’ asks Matt Patterson, the executive director of the Center for Worker Freedom. “University of Tennessee football? Men’s fashions? And what does Local 42 get for making it to the top-tier threshold? They get to meet Volkswagen’s human resources representatives twice a month.”

“Many workers call this a farce to distract from the obvious, that the union lost the election. VW employees already have the right to speak at any time to their supervisors and human resources representatives, without the help of either ACE or Local 42. If either club becomes an actual union, workers will lose that. Rush week, with all its many distractions, was fun, and now the workers at Volkswagen can get back to their real work of building cars.”

My point exactly. If VW has any sense they’ll send the UAW packing. VW’s top executives, spurred by the European unions, had done everything they can to get UAW a place at the table but the feeling among the workers is UAW has little if nothing to offer, thus ACE was born to stave off the money-hungry beast.

If it took four separate elections for NTM-Bower Corporation to finally cut the cord in Madison, Ala., -- and remember “somebody” rather blatantly stuffed the ballot box -- how long do you think it will take them to leave VW? How do you decertify without a contract? How do you get rid of a suitor you never wanted in the first place?

royexum@aol.com