http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110731/BUSINESS/307310046/UAW-revving-up-to-unionize-the-SouthThe United Auto Workers union is gearing up for a fresh push to organize workers at the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, in what union officials hope will be the first in a series of successes to gain a renewed foothold in the right-to-work South.
Foreign carmakers — including Nissan in Middle Tennessee — have come South in recent years in search of less expensive labor and lower operating costs. The UAW, which has lost clout amid this Southern expansion, has a lot riding on its VW gambit.
But the union’s top official in the Southeast, who will lead the drive to organize Chattanooga, concedes that the UAW faces tough sledding persuading Volkswagen workers to join, even with the German automaker taking an unusual hands-off approach to the bold plans to sign up union members.
Industry experts say the UAW’s survival is at stake, as the union’s membership has dropped to just 390,000 members nationwide from 1.5 million in 1979. And the UAW is still shrinking.
“We’ve got a contingent of workers we’ve talked to,” says Gary Casteel, director of UAW’s District 8, which covers the Southeast and has its headquarters in Lebanon. “But we have not launched an official campaign in Chattanooga. We have no exact timetable yet.
“We just want to be real careful that we have the right information in front of the workers before we engage in the process,” Casteel said. “What we want is for the workers to have the ability to make a fair and informed decision.”
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