UAW Wants Federal Review of VW Plant Vote

The United Auto Workers union has asked the National Labor Relations Board to determine whether a new vote to recognize the UAW should be held at Volkswagen AG's factory in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Ten days ago workers there rejected the union 53% to 47%.

But the UAW says a "coordinated and widely publicized coercive campaign" by anti-union politicians and outside groups deprived workers of their legal right to join a union "free of coercion, intimidation, threats and interference."

The union points out that a swing of only 44 votes would have produced a result favoring union representation.

The UAW is asking the NLRB to decide if workers were illegally coerced by threats about the factory's future made by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and several other senior state officials. The union points to widely published statements by the group that the Chattanooga facility could lose state financial incentives and rights to add a second VW model if workers voted in favor of the union.

UAW President Bob King describes the pressure as "extraordinary interference." Sen. Corker retorts that the UAW objection to the vote shows the union is "only interested in its own survival."

Protests to the NLRB normally focus on actions by management of the targeted company. Labor lawyers tell The Wall Street Journal there is little precedence for the board to consider third-party interference.