Category Archives: unions

VW challenges NLRB union ruling

By Erik Schelzig, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Volkswagen on Thursday challenged a National Labor Relations Board ruling allowing a small group of employees at the German automaker’s lone U.S. plant to be represented by the United Auto Workers union.

Volkswagen’s appeal, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, comes a day after the NLRB ruled that the company was engaging in unfair labor practices by refusing to bargain with the union.

The board said earlier this year that the skilled-trades workers who maintain and repair machinery and robots at the plant “share a community of interest” in terms of qualifications, training, supervision and hours that are distinct from production workers at the facility’s assembly, body weld and paint shops.

Volkswagen has argued that labor decisions should only be made by the plant’s entire hourly workforce of 1,400 hourly employees, which had narrowly rejected UAW representation in 2014 election. Continue reading →

NLRB lets stand VW union vote in Chattanooga

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday declined to take up Volkswagen’s challenge of a union vote at its lone U.S. assembly plant in Tennessee.

In a 2-1 decision, the panel refused to consider the German automaker’s appeal on the basis that it raised “no substantial issues warranting review.”

Volkswagen had unsuccessfully sought to block a union vote among a group of about 160 workers specializing in the repair and maintenance of machinery and robots, arguing that labor decisions should be made by all 1,400 blue-collar workers at the plant. The company also questioned the timing of the vote amid its struggles to cope with the fallout of its diesel emissions cheating scandal.
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Bike bill transformed into attack on teachers union PAC

UPDATE: The bill passed the Senate 21-9 Monday.

A bill that originally addressed how students should wear bicycle helmets will hit the Tennessee Senate floor today with an amendment critics say aims to punish the state’s largest teachers union for legal political activity, reports the Times-Free Press.

Sponsored by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, Senate Bill 151 began life last year as a measure urging the state Department of Education to include information in a pilot bicycle safety program about “the proper use and positioning of bicycle helmets.”

In last week’s Senate Education Committee meeting, Gardenhire introduced an amendment, quickly adopted, that completely rewrote the bill.

It no longer mentions bicycles or helmets.

Now the bill zeroes in on educators’ automatic payroll deductions to a professional organization that also runs a political action committee.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA), which has thousands of members, is the only teachers group that fits the description. Another group, the Professional Educators of Tennessee has no PAC.

Gardenhire’s “Fair Access to Collection of Teacher Support Act” would bar employee dues check-offs by local school systems “for a professional employee organization, if any of that organization’s funds are contributed in any way to another organization that engages in political activity.”

TEA leaders, who had no inkling of what Gardenhire planned, were stunned.

“It would target TEA for its political activity,” charged Jim Wrye, TEA’s chief lobbyist. “It would eliminate payroll deduction for our members. We’ve had payroll deduction for decades. It’s just a slot on a paycheck just like United Way or the Farm Bureau or any other entity.”

Wrye argued that “teachers need to be politically active, you know, when we have all of these out-of-state special interests pouring in tons of money. We need to stand up for our schools and our communities.”

Asked about the amendment Sunday, Gardenhire said “one group has a monopoly of collecting dues” because many districts say their computers can’t work in other groups for automatic deductions.

“We’re giving an unfair advantage to a particular association and there’s other associations that are vying for membership and have a good representation. And we ought to treat them all equal.”

Moreover, Gardenhire also said he’s seen where TEA is “even now working on a way to set it up [dues deduction] up outside [local school systems], with people writing a check or through a credit or debit card. They’re already anticipating this. So I thought it would be a good time to get the process going and make sure everyone’s on an equal footing.”

But Gardenhire, vice chairman of the Education Committee, acknowledged the TEA’s political activity factored into the bill.

“That was certainly part of it,” the lawmaker said, but quickly added, “They’ve given me political contributions in the past. I just think it’s the right thing to do.”

Memphis teacher unions’ dispute goes to court

A question of whether Shelby County Schools is taking money out of teachers’ paychecks against their will has dragged the school district into an ongoing feud between local and statewide teacher unions, reports the Commercial Appeal.

The Memphis Shelby County Education Association is suing SCS for continuing to collect dues out of teachers’ paychecks for the Tennessee Education Association, even after the two groups disaffiliated last year. According to court documents, that amounts to about $67,000 every pay period and affects about 4,200 employees.

A chancery court judge ruled Monday, however, that SCS can continue making the withdrawals until the court matter is resolved. A hearing date has been set for Feb. 8.

SCS attorney Rodney Moore said no money has been given to TEA against employees’ wishes. He said because of the separation of the two union groups late last year, SCS has been continuing the payroll deductions for TEA union dues, but hasn’t yet transferred that money to TEA pending approval of each employee.

Moore, who noted “we don’t understand the complaint,” said the issue is between MSCEA and TEA — which wasn’t even listed as a party on the lawsuit. TEA is fighting that, and has filed a petition to intervene in the case. Moore also noted the school board voted in November to stay neutral in the fight between the two unions.

MSCEA executive director Keith Williams said the group is suing the school system and not TEA because it is the school system that deducts the money from employees’ paychecks.

Williams said Monday morning’s hearing was the first time he’d heard SCS say they were holding on to the dues and not yet giving the money to TEA. He said he thinks dues have only been collected erroneously for one or two pay periods.

MSCEA attorney Michael Floyd argued in court that SCS violated a memorandum of understanding that outlines payroll deduction procedures.

“My complaint says they stole this money from these people,” Floyd said.

VW skilled trades workers vote for union

By Eric Schelzig, Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The United Auto Workers union has gained a significant first victory at a foreign-owned automaker in the South, easily winning a vote by skilled-trades workers at Volkswagen’s lone U.S. factory to have the UAW negotiate their collective bargaining agreements.

The workers who repair and maintain machinery and robots at the German automaker’s plant in Chattanooga voted 108-44 for UAW representation over two days ending Friday.

Volkswagen objected to the new vote favoring the UAW to represent just 162 skilled-trades workers, arguing that all of the plant’s 1,400 blue-collar workers should have a say over union issues. The German automaker said it plans to appeal the ruling allowing the vote to the full National Labor Relations Board.

“We believe that a union of only maintenance employees fractures our workforce and does not take into account the overwhelming community of interest shared between our maintenance and production employees,” the company said in a statement.

The vote comes nearly 20 months after the union was narrowly defeated in an election involving all hourly employees at the plant. The UAW has been thwarted for decades in attempts to represent workers outside of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
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Germany’s largest trade union teams with UAW in TN

By Eric Schelzig, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Germany’s largest trade union is opening a joint office with the United Auto Workers in Tennessee to promote labor issues at German automakers and suppliers in the southern United States.

Frankfurt-based IG Metall estimates that 100,000 people work for German-owned automotive companies in the U.S. Unlike at their parent companies’ factories in Germany, most of the U.S. workers aren’t represented by unions.

“IG Metall believes some German manufacturers are exploiting low-wage environments in the U.S. South, where working conditions — including health and safety situations — tend to be challenging for employees,” according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press in advance of the official announcement of the new joint office scheduled for later this week.

The move has been in the works for months, but comes against the backdrop of scandal at Volkswagen, which has been the UAW’s chief target among foreign automakers in the U.S. Volkswagen has admitted to cheating on U.S. emissions tests, creating an air of uncertainty at all of its facilities, including its lone U.S. plant in Chattanooga.

The growing cooperation between the UAW and IG Metall is unlikely to be seen as a welcome development among anti-labor Republicans in the South, who argue that a union expansion in the auto industry would hurt future recruiting efforts, especially among Asian companies.
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TN commission says ‘no, thanks’ to $193K federal grant

In September the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability was awarded a $193,000 federal grant that would study paid leave issues concerning caregivers in Tennessee, but — less than two months later — The Tennessean reports that the state government agency is withdrawing its application as inappropriately filed.

Jim Shulman, executive director of the commission, said the grant application was written about paid family leave and not about caregiving. While the two issues are related, the grant centered on labor and economic issues more than caregiving. He did not write the grant, but it was filed under his name and he takes responsibility, he said.

“We submitted something that was outside the scope of what this agency does,” Shulman said. “We submitted a proposal that really didn’t talk much about caregiving. We included in that a contract that wasn’t going to do what we said we were going to do. There is a problem with that.”

The withdrawal follows an editorial by state Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, in The Tennessean in October. She said such feasibility studies would do “much harm to many Tennessee workers and employers” and argued mandates tied to paid leave would delay hiring, cut pay and lead to layoffs.

A House committee had previously decided against authorizing the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development to pursue federal funds for such research, she said,

“I was happy to see it was withdrawn,” Lynn said Monday. “It’s all deficit spending by the federal government, so we really can’t afford to do studies like this.”

Lynn said paid leave policies are issues between employers and employees and those workers and their families, not the government. Most companies are often flexible with workers during difficult times, she said.

The grant was among $1.55 million awarded nationally that was dedicated to research paid leave. The Tennessee grant was meant to carry out a survey on needs and availability of paid family and medical leave in Tennessee. Upon receiving the grant, Shulman pointed to the large population of Tennesseans — roughly 1.65 million — who provide care for adults.

…Craig Fitzhugh, House minority leader who submitted a letter of support for the grant application, said… the withdrawal “represents a stunning missed opportunity for the people of Tennessee. I urge those involved with this decision to consider carefully their actions and do what is best for the public — not the politicians or personalities involved.”
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Note: Here’s an emailed statement from Tennessee AFL-CIO President Billy Dycus:

“It is disappointing to see the state of Tennessee take a step backward when it comes to paid leave issues. This grant would have initiated an important chance to assess the needs of all Tennessee workers and provide our leaders with a blueprint for how to address those desires. Study or no study, we are committed to ensuring that working families have access to the best possible paid leave policies and will continue to remind lawmakers of the needs of all of their constituents, not just the privileged few.”

Haslam: VW union vote should be delayed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam says Volkswagen should be allowed to address the fallout from its emissions cheating scandal before taking up another union vote at its Tennessee plant.

Maintenance workers at the German automaker’s lone U.S. plant in Chattanooga last week petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a vote on representation by the United Auto Workers for collective bargaining purposes.

Haslam has long opposed the UAW gaining a foothold at the plant and told reporters Tuesday that Volkswagen faces major issues in emerging from the emissions scandal. In Haslam’s words: “Let’s get those addressed first.”

The vote would apply only to the approximately 165 employees classified by VW as “skilled trade” workers. The UAW last year narrowly lost an election to represent about 1,500 hourly employees at the plant.

TN AFL-CIO elects Steelworkers leader as new president

News release from Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council
NASHVILLE, TN – Billy Dycus has been elected as the new president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council. He succeeds Gary Moore, who chose not to seek re-election after serving as president since 2011.

“I am grateful and humbled that the affiliates representing thousands of hard-working Tennesseans of the Tennessee AFL-CIO have elected me to represent Labor throughout the state,” Dycus said. “President Gary Moore and his staff have done an amazing job managing the many difficult issues facing Labor and working people over the last four years. I look forward to growing Labor and providing workers the dignity and rights they so deserve by assembling a staff that is diverse, highly-motivated, and willing to meet the challenges of an ever-changing workplace and political landscape.”

Previously, Dycus served as the president of United Steelworkers Local 1155L in Morrison, Tennessee.

“I want to extend congratulations to Billy Dycus upon his election to the office of President of the Tennessee AFL-CIO,” Moore said. “As we move forward with our familiar and constant Labor battles, I know Billy will do a great job. I wish him and the new Executive Board the best of luck in their endeavors fighting for the working men and women of Tennessee.”

Current Tennessee AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer A.J. Starling was re-elected to serve another term.
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Haslam, other politicos: VW troubles shouldn’t hurt TN

By Erik Schelzig, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As an emissions cheating scandal engulfs the German automaker Volkswagen, Tennessee officials are trying to soothe fears about the potential impact on the company’s Chattanooga factory, the crown jewel of the state’s economic development efforts of the last decade.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam said Thursday he’s been assured by officials at the Tennessee plant and Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg, Germany, headquarters that “nothing has changed” for their Tennessee operations.

“Obviously we’re concerned about the impact, but their reassurance is this is not going to change their business plan in Chattanooga,” he said.

Chattanooga was selected in 2008 as the site of Volkswagen’s first U.S. plant in decades. It was part of a strategy endorsed by then-CEO Martin Winterkorn to boost North American sales. Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, days after admitting that the world’s top-selling carmaker had rigged diesel emissions to pass U.S. tests during his tenure.
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