Volkswagen may ignore the results of an election that saw workers at a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., vote against unionizing under the United Auto Workers, or so says a group that prides itself on “warning the public about the causes and consequences of unionization.”
Martin Winterkorn, CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen (VW), poses behind a Volkswagen car as he attends the company's annual press conference on March 13, 2014 in Berlin (Getty Images)
The group, the Center for Worker Freedom, said Volkswagen management may toss the election results and accept authorization cards collected by the UAW in 2013.
The automaker told TheBlaze in a statement that it "doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation."
The Center for Worker Freedom's claim comes just months after workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted 712-626 in a secret ballot election to remain non-union. The three-day election was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
The union responded poorly to its "devastating" defeat, complaining loudly that that the results of the February election were illegitimate due to meddling by outside sources, including statements made by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
The NLRB is scheduled to hear the UAW's complaints on April 21.
If the automaker ends up accepting the authorization cards, it means they'll be doing so even though the cards have apparently never been examined by a third party and several workers have apparently complained that they were tricked into signing them, the Center for Worker Freedom claimed, citing anonymous sources.
“Such a suppression of the democratically expressed wishes of its employees would constitute a betrayal without precedent in the history of American labor relations,” Center for Worker Freedom President Matt Patterson said.
Patterson said he questioned the NLRB about whether it’s legal for the union authorization cards from 2013 to be accepted even after the group lost the secret ballot election. He said the NLRB refused to offer comment.
The UAW immediately responded to TheBlaze’s request for comment.
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This post has been updated with comment from Volkswagen.
