|
 The UAW said it would appeal the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) decision, which it called an outrage.
The union said the NLRB had deviated from its own precedent by
giving two groups of anti-UAW workers a formal role as legal parties
to the election dispute.
The UAW has asked the NLRB to scrap the results of the election,
which the union lost by a 712-626 vote, arguing that anti-union
statements by politicians and outside groups compromised voting at
the Chattanooga facility.
The anti-UAW workers are supported by the National Right to Work
Legal Defense Foundation and Southern Momentum, two of the groups
that campaigned against the UAW in the days leading up to the
Volkswagen workers' vote.
The UAW said the two groups are "masquerading as legitimate worker
representatives", but are actually funded by powerful business
interests. They worked in tandem with Tennessee Republican
politicians, such as Senator Bob Corker and Governor Bill Haslam, to
disseminate anti-union messages, the UAW said.
"It is an outrage that their allies, who refused to reveal their
funding sources and who openly republished the illicit threats in
the media and among the Volkswagen workforce, will now be allowed to
participate in the NLRB hearing," the UAW said in a statement.
[to top of second column] |
The fight over the Chattanooga union election has landed at the feet
of the NLRB, a federal agency that supervises union elections and
polices unfair labor practices in the private sector.
The NLRB's regional office in Atlanta is handling the UAW's
challenge to the election result. That office decided on Monday to
grant the two groups of anti-union workers party status in the case.
The regional office's decisions can be appealed to the full
five-member NLRB board in Washington, D.C.
The UAW said it would ask the board to review the Atlanta office's
decision on giving the anti-UAW workers party status.
The Atlanta regional office will also investigate the UAW's claims
that outside parties unduly influenced the election outcome at the
Chattanooga facility. That process will likely include a hearing,
but it has not yet been scheduled.
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Stephen
Powell)
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