1. Amdist the chaos of April 2024, there is something that has gotten relatively little attention: a historic victory for union organizing in Chattanooga, Tennessee And it wasn't just a victory for unions It was a stinging defeat for Charles Koch and his right-wing allies 🧵
2. The NLRB certified that workers at a Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga voted to join the @UAW. The union secured a commanding 73% of the vote. Koch and others have spent more than a decade trying to prevent this from happening popular.info/p/a-historic-v…
3. In 2014, a constellation of right-wing groups launched an aggressive campaign to defeat an earlier unionization effort at the VW plant in Chattanooga. They spent months distributing "materials...detailing the negative economic consequences of UAW representation."
4. The 2014 campaign also included billboards with the slogan, "Auto Unions ATE Detroit. Next Meal Chattanooga?" The allegation was that if workers at the Chattanooga VW plant were to approve a union, it would sink the entire city's economy.
5. Americans for Tax Reform (ATF), another group that has received millions from the Koch network, rented "13 billboards in Chattanooga" to promote anti-union messaging. One ATF billboard reinforced the CEI's Detroit messaging: "Detroit. Brought to you by the UAW." It featured an image of a factory that closed more than 50 years earlier.
6. An ATF website devoted to anti-union advocacy claimed that "UAW wants your guns." These efforts, along with the work of other right-wing groups, were successful. VW workers in Chattanooga narrowly voted against organizing with the UAW in 2014.
7. In 2024, they tried to run the same playbook. Americans for Prosperity, a group founded and funded by Koch, rented billboards around Chattanooga. The messages were familiar: "UAW broke Detroit. Is Chattanooga next? Vote NO" and "UAW = LAYOFFS."
8. The Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group that represents most large American companies, pinned the blame on VW for not actively trying to defeat the union. "The company decided to remain neutral in the campaign, meaning that the union’s story was the only story being heard by workers," the Chamber said.
9. But VW, unlike the Chamber, understands that, by giving workers a formal voice, unions can benefit the corporation — improving productivity, morale and working conditions. popular.info/p/a-historic-v…
10. For more independent accountability journalism, don't rely on this website, which has an algorithm designed to promote the right-wing propaganda of its owner Subscribe to Popular Information It's free to sign up popular.info/p/a-historic-v…
@JuddLegum Many Americans don't know the role of unions in some countries is less adversarial than it is here. VW in Germany not only has a union, that union has a seat on the board.
@JuddLegum Foster an environment where your workers might actually *want* to work for you. What a concept.
@JuddLegum When you cede the moral high ground to VW, maybe it’s time to have a long talk with a mirror.
@JuddLegum As I recall, when VW wanted to build that plant, they wanted Union representation for the employees. It's the German model of business. TN said no, and VW said appoint an employee representative or we won't build.
@JuddLegum I remember hearing a rumor when that plant went in that Volkswagen assumed that they would be working with union labor and were surprised that the workers weren't particularly interested at first. I wonder if that was true, but I've been thinking about it since I heard this.