VW Workers Threaten the South

Volkswagen is none too pleased with conservative Southern politicians. After workers at its sole U.S. plant, in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted against being represented by the United Auto Workers union, the German auto maker's labor representative threatened to end further funding to the Southern region, and blamed Southern Republicans for the vote’s result. “I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the South again,” said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW’s works council. The Chattanooga plant is one of the only VW plants that doesn’t have a works council, which the company holds as critical to its “co-determination” principle. “The conservatives stirred up massive, anti-union sentiments,” Osterloh said.