Every Once and a While It’s Incredibly Easy to See Behind the Veil

This AMs NYT has a piece about a fascinating development in Tennessee, where management in a privately owned auto company, a VW plant in Chattanooga, appears to be working cooperatively with the UAW to organize the plant.  So, what’s the problem?

I’ve written about this before, but the wrinkle is that “outside agitators” [my words, not the NYTs] are trying to block the union, which is pitting them against both sides—union and management, since the latter thinks organizing the workforce would be helpful.

The business community reacted with…dismay when several Volkswagen officials from Germany visited the plant and hinted that it would be good to have a labor union because that would help establish a German-style works council. Such councils, comprising managers and representatives of white-collar and blue-collar workers, seek to foster collaboration within a factory as they forge policies on plant rules, work hours, vacations and other matters.

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This has been reposted from Jared Bernstein’s blog On the Economy.