Michael Schaus

What do you do when a union vote doesn’t go your way? Well, if you are the United Auto Workers union, you ask for a “re-do”. The UAW has asked the National Labor Relations Board to reconsider their failed attempt to unionize Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, because… Well because they think it was unfair that anti-union voices were allowed to make their case on TV, highway billboards, and newspaper columns. In other words: the UAW feels they were unfairly outgunned by free-speech.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

The UAW has filed an election objection with the labor board alleging that Republican politicians conducted “a coordinated and widely-publicized coercive campaign” to deprive “workers of their federally-protected right” to “support and select the UAW as their exclusive representative.”

Um… What about the “federally protected right” to free speech? Or does that pesky First Amendment not really apply to Republicans? The union feels as if the anti-unionization case made by outside parties (without the authorization, or endorsement of Volkswagen) constitutes an interference in the vote… It’s a pretty audacious claim, when one considers that the “victim” in this case is one of the nation’s most powerful lobbying and fundraising instrument for progressive causes.

Apparently, the UAW is under the impression that folks like Grover Norquist, Senator Bob Corker, and Republican backed activist groups used intimidation to compel workers to vote against the unionization of VW’s Chattanooga plant. The claim is pretty rich, coming from an organization that has showed strong solidarity with unions that post the names of Michigan workers who opted out of union contracts. It’s kinda like Al Capone complaining that Elliot Ness is “too intimidating”; then appealing for a re-trial on tax evasion.

Michael Schaus
