The head of Germany’s powerful IG Metall union, Joerg Hofmann, reportedly has demanded Volkswagen request talks with the United Auto Workers union (UAW) over a dispute about how to represent some workers at VW’s Tennessee plant in the US.
“IG Metall-chief Hofmann is calling for VW to no longer act contrary to American labour law, and to seek talks with UAW without delay,” IG Metall said in a statement cited by Reuters.
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The news agency noted that, in April, the United States National Labor Relations board (NLRB) filed a complaint against VW for its failure to negotiate with a set of employees at the plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee who had voted to be represented by the UAW.
An earlier Reuters report said the UAW had urged to accept the NLRB’s latest order that requires the carmaker to collectively bargain with the UAW local union as the representative of a portion of workers at its Tennessee plant.
The NLRB on 26 August ordered Volkswagen Group of America, among other things, to recognise and bargain with UAW, Local 42, as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
“This unanimous decision makes it clear that the company has been operating in violation of federal law by refusing to come to the bargaining table,” Gary Casteel, UAW secretary-treasurer, said in a statement to Reuters.
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By GlobalData“We urge Volkswagen to accept the NLRB order and bargain with the local union at the earliest possible date.”
According to Reuters, Volkswagen said earlier it would go to a US federal appeals court in an effort to keep the UAW union from representing a portion of the company’s plant workers in Chattanooga.
Late last year, a majority of the maintenance, or skilled trades, workers at VW’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted to be represented by the UAW.
The news agency noted the vote marked a rare victory for the union in the US south where it has fought many unsuccessful battles to organise non-unionised vehicle plants.
Volkswagen was at one time welcoming to the UAW at Chattanooga but that was before the union lost a closely contested election open to all of the plant’s 1,500 workers in February 2014, Reuters said.
