In a close vote, workers at the Chattanooga VW plant rejected unionization.  While anti-union groups often complain about the muscle of “big labor” (financial and otherwise), it’s clear that the forces arrayed against the UAW, including the Republicans who control the Tennessee statehouse and several conservative front groups, had far more leverage over workers than did the organizers.  And the south’s long antipathy toward unions didn’t help, either. It’s possible that workers thought that union protections would not be worth the dues.  It’s also possible that they thought that unionization might cost the plant jobs because of Republican retaliation.  Whatever the case, the further decline of unions is bad news overall for American workers.  Furthermore, that the Tennessee Plutocratic Republican party was willing to punish VW had its workers voted for collective bargaining is further indication of how toxically anti-worker one of our political parties has become.

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