Individual Written Essay/Report
Subject: INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LABOR LAW
One of the most important aspects of the employment relationship is whether a workforce is “organized,” that is, represented by a union. The percentage of the workforce represented by unions is in general decline throughout most of Western Europe and the United States, for various reasons discussed in the course. This decline has been most significant in traditional “blue collar” jobs in manufacturing industries.
In 2011, the German automaker Volkswagen opened an automobile manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the United States. In 2013 the United Auto Workers (UAW) an industrial union that has traditionally represented auto workers in the United States, began a campaign to organize the work force at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga manufacturing facility. The UAW obtained a sufficient number of cards indicating a desire for a union for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to call for an election as to whether the workers at Volkswagen wanted to be organized and represented by the UAW.
In February 2014 the workforce at Volkswagen voted not to be represented by the UAW, in spite of the fact that Volkswagen management had not opposed the union and had permitted UAW representatives on the site to talk to workers about the benefits of unionization. Volkswagen had seen unionization as a possible vehicle to establish a works council, a characteristic of German labor relations, although not of the United States.
For purposes of this assignment, explain what happened to the UAW organizing effort at Volkswagen. The websites of the UAW (www.uaw.org) and Volkswagen (http://www.volkswagenag.com/) should disclose some basic information about the organizing effort, and the website of the NLRB (www.NLRB.gov) will discuss the basic process for organizing a work force in the United States. You should also consult press and commentator reports and discussions of the failed UAW organizing effort at Volkswagen. Why did the UAW’s organizing effort fail? What are the implications of the failure for industrial relations in Volkswagen’s home country of Germany? What are the implications of the UAW’s failure at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga factory for the future of organized work forces in the United States?
Length: I expect that your answer will take approximately 7 pages, 12 point font, and spacing of 1½ between lines.