Right To Work

Right To Work

Saturday, September 7, 2013 Chattanooga Times Headline: Haslam: UAW win would hurt state.

Governor Haslam is quoted as saying, “”A lot of suppliers are saying, “If the UAW comes into the plant (Volkswagen), I don’t know if we’ll be as close as we would”.””  First, we should challenge the Governor to publicly name those suppliers.  Volkswagen might be interested in knowing who the suppliers are in case those suppliers might not want to do business with every other VW plant in the world with Union labor councils.  Volkswagen seems to be quite successful with its formula of using worker input to improve its product line.

I think the clearer message from our Governor is, “We, in Tennessee, know how to run your business better than you do, VW!”  An attitude like that is more detrimental to Tennessee job gains and recruiting industry than having a Union in the Chattanooga plant.

The Governor also mentioned, “….several folks say if UAW comes it will dampen our enthusiasm…”, and “…we’re looking at Tennessee because it is a right-to-work state”.  Does the Governor understand that there are currently unions in Tennessee?

The Right-to-work Law, simply stated, says you cannot be forced to join a union in order to work at a job.  It must be noted that if I have the right not to join, I must also have the inalienable RIGHT TO JOIN a union if I so desire.  It is equally as wrong to coerce people not to form and join unions as it is to force people to join.  Tennessee’s Right-To-Work means I have the RIGHT TO JOIN a union if I want to.