Republican lawmakers have managed to torpedo the United Auto Workers’ effort to organize the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant. Though driven in part by a tenacious faction of anti-union workers, the United Auto Workers’ effort was, in the end, narrowly defeated because Republican legislators and activists tipped the scales.
The conduct of lawmakers in this matter is deplorable for a number of reasons. First, their determination to rout the United Auto Workers can be attributed only in part to their view that unionization harms the economy. In large part, they were concerned with the political threat that stronger unions represent.
State Senator Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna, admitted that Republicans opposed unionization because a larger union presence in the state would mean more union money flowing into Democratic campaign coffers. I guess Republicans really do let the private sector sort out its own affairs—until it threatens their hold on power.
In my opinion, the proposed Volkswagen labor arrangement was not that objectionable. If the United Auto Workers had triumphed, German-style ‘works councils’ would have been established alongside an actual union.
Works councils are organizations comprised of employees, union and non-union alike, who negotiate with the company on matters other than wages and benefits, such as workplace conditions. Works councils generally tend to collaborate more with management, which is precisely why German businesses favor them.
Thirdly, conservative antipathy towards unions proves that the modern Republican Party does not care about blue-collar Americans. Numerous studies have shown that unions raise wages for workers inside and outside of their organizations.
Contrary to conservative dogma, capitalism should never be a system where the super-affluent hold all the advantages. Unions provide a necessary balance; they are the reason that many American workers no longer have to work until they drop dead of exhaustion and get paid a decent wage.
