Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee Issues Statement on the Volkswagen UAW Vote
CHATTANOOGA, TN – Following Friday’s vote by employees at the Volkswagen Chattanooga Plant to join UAW, Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) is highlighting their opposition and how this top-down labor approach will only hurt Chattanooga.
AFP-TN State Director Tori Venable released the following statement:
“Friday’s vote represents another top-down labor approach that will have lasting negative impacts for Chattanooga and the surrounding communities. President Biden has enabled union bosses like United Automobile Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain to bully and scare workers into unionization by politicizing the workplace.
“President Joe Biden and ‘Bidenomics’ are directly responsible for policies that are fueling increased labor and production costs, as well as unease for American workers.
“These unionizations will only hurt American workers; as labor strikes have at Ford, GM, and Stellantis plants did last fall.
“In Tennessee, we respect the right to work and freedom to join a union or not. These workers have made their decision; we sincerely hope they are insulated from Bidenomics and corruption that plagued UAW shops in Detroit.”
Background:
The Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Plant employs about 4,300 Tennesseans. The vote to unionize occurred between Wednesday, Apr. 17- Friday, Apr. 19 and was finalized late Friday night. According to Reuters, the Volkswagen Chattanooga factory is the only non-union factory in the world. Friday’s vote makes the Volkswagen Chattanooga factory the first auto plant in the South to approve unionization through employees voting since the 1940s, as well as the first foreign-owned auto plant in the South to unionize.
AFP-TN has highlighted their opposition to unionization by sponsoring billboards in the Chattanooga metro area.
During the UAW strikes at Ford, GM, and Stellantis plants across the country last fall, Americans for Prosperity blasted President Joe Biden for policies like ‘Bidenomics’ that have catastrophically harmed American auto workers.
