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01.12.2011 2

The UAW Aims South

The United Auto Workers (UAW) is stepping up action to spread into the South. In an effort to expand their reach, they are re-branding their relationship with auto companies claiming that they aim to be a friend, rather than a foe…

According to the Washington Post:

The UAW has had little success over the past 30 years in organizing workers at U.S. factories owned by Japanese, Korean and German auto companies. The companies built factories mainly in southern states such as Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky that aren’t union-friendly. Many also pay wages comparable to UAW-represented factories owned by Detroit automakers, but the foreign companies have avoided UAW rules that can make plants less efficient.

Why would anyone in the South that is already making what folks in Detroit who are union represented make, want to affiliate themselves with a union that will then shanghai their paychecks?

It get’s worse:

Bob King, the union’s president, said it will play tough with Toyota, Honda, BMW, Hyundai and others if they don’t agree to secret ballot election principles that the union is backing. Companies that don’t sign on to the principles will be branded in as human rights violators, King told an industry group Wednesday.

The UAW wants the companies to agree to a secret ballot election without threatening workers that the factory will close if it’s unionized, and to give the union equal campaign time to woo workers, King said.

For those who don’t agree, the UAW will hold demonstrations and campaign with consumers to make its human rights point, King said.

“I would be very, very concerned if I was an auto manufacturer, of having young people, college students, young college graduates, feel that I was a human rights violator,” he said.

You can’t make this stuff up. First, the hypocrisy from the UAW ceases to amaze. They insist that the car manufactures not protest their actions, but, should they stand in the way of the almighty UAW, they will protest the car manufacturers’ actions with “demonstrations”.

Further odd is the belief that they have some sort of calling to uphold “human rights” throughout the car manufacturing business. If you a car company has no UAW presence, then you must be in violation of some sort of human rights–so they believe.

Further down in the WaPo article Honda weighs in on this attempt by the UAW to creep southward:

At the Detroit auto show earlier this week, a top Honda executive said the decision on joining the UAW is up to the workers.

“They’ve never seen the need, so far, to have anybody intervene on their behalf, work in partner with them, and I think that continues to be their decision, not ours,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda, which has several factories in Central Ohio.

Exactly. The workers have not sought out union representation because they know it stinks. Good for them.

This question needs to be asked though: knowing that the UAW owns 67% of Chrysler, why would any car company, excluding Chrysler, allow the UAW to represent it’s employees? This has stupid written all over it.

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