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NLRB Issues Surprising Hault to Union Election at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant


In an announcement that caught many by surprise, last Friday, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") granted a request by Volkswagen to put an indefinite hold on a union election at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant.  As a bit of background, workers at the pant had filed a union election petition last month with the NLRB seeking to have the United Auto Workers represent them.  Volkswagen sought to stop the union election on the grounds that all workers at the Volkswagen plant should have been included, rather than just a smaller group of workers.

Without providing an explanation for its decision, NLRB Chairman John Ring and Member Marvin Kaplan issued a single sentence opinion in which it was announced that the union election would not proceed.  Member Lauren McFerran, the lone Democrat on the NLRB, issued a dissenting opinion that Volkswagen "has not established that such extraordinary relief is necessary."

This is another chapter in the drawn out saga of unionization efforts at the Chattanooga plant.  Volkswagen had previously argued that an election among a small group of maintenance workers in 2015 precluded another vote.  (A year must pass after a union certification before there can be another union election.  This year timeframe is intended to allow adequate time for bargaining.  Volkswagen argued that the year ban was still in place since it had not technically started bargaining with the union...on the grounds that the election was not proper since it only included a small group of workers at the plant rather than all workers.)

I do not need to say that last Friday's announcement from the NLRB is yet another setback for unionization efforts at the plant.  Where things go from here is difficult to predict, but this is yet another roadblock that has been put in front of the UAW and pro-union workers at the plant.


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