the workers in a German type relationship wherein workers had good representation. As usual, I wonder where voters stick their brains when they vote. Now, as I understand it, VW will seek other ways to support employee representation. The voters deserve what they end up with if they lack the smarts and interest to dig into what is really going on than being led by the nose like a bunch of weak little sniveling serfs unable to think for themselves.

in the past have been ritually broken down by business and supported by government. .including Democratic politicians. Unions were attractive and feasible during workers markets with low unemployment and federal protections for US labor. .those days are over with job exportation friendly trade agreements championed by Democrats. I would expect this from repugs, not from the traditional "labor party"...the labor party is dead.

companies is often a joke. Many workers seem more than willing to go to serfdom even when given the opportunity to have some guts to take their future into their own hands. Often, R=D=I, but many D's don't want to hear that, and much of America is brainwashed, unable to comprehend critical thinking yet exercise a bit of critical thinking.

that our trade agreements convinced VW workers in Tennessee not to unionize? I think it was republican politicians who aimed a lot more 'convincing' at these workers. Do you think they would not have tried to scare and intimidate the workers if not for our trade agreements. You have a loftier opinion of them than I do.

Unions are extremely strong in Germany and they have more "job exportation trade agreements" (of course, they do not look at them that way) than the US ever dreamed of (or had nightmares about). Of course, Germany does not have right-to-work states which is a government policy that has decimated our unions. And Taft-Hartley was passed in 1947 long before there were any trade agreements. Let's put the blame where it belongs.

Has nobody seen how successful Volkswagen is with unionized workers?

against was against the idea of being unionized per se vs. an anti-UAW vote.

Is it possible that there might have been some workers who voted against who might have been in favor of being unionized but just didn't want to be a part of the UAW.

Why not a locally run and controlled union?

I'm just asking questions.

A non-unionized job is better than no job...

Fear is the answer to your question.

It's a right to work (for less) state.

I would also add, in addition to the governor and the US Senator, that the LOCAL legislators (state house and Senate) also bullied the workers by threatening to take away the incentives provided to VW by the state when they located in Chattanooga a few years ago. And you can't forget the millions of dollars of Koch brothers money which came into Chattanooga and vociferously lobbied against the UAW vote via billboards and radio ads. I actually think that there is enough evidence that a NLRB investigation is warranted, but I don't think that anything will come out of that simply because it wasn't VW that did the bullying, it was the politicians.

In spite of the optimism that many seemed to have about this election, I was never assured that organization was a forgone conclusion. This IS the south after all and it's seriously ingrained into the psyche of a southern worker that a business owner is God and that unions are the Devil. It takes a LOT to overcome that kind of propaganda and conditioning. Especially when the entire political apparatus of the state government and private businesses are ideologically opposed.

It wouldn't have surprised me if the vote had been even more lopsided against than it was. The unfortunate fact is that the consciousness of the US worker and especially the southern US worker is not very high. One phrase illustrates lack of consciousness pretty well IMO. There's a saying that I've heard all of my life, "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?". THIS is the attitude of most southern workers at this time. Wealth equals intelligence. We know it's not true, but most people and especially southerners don't.

Very strange indeed

Whatever that is. Unions are French and gay.

I'd like to see how much affect the local and state politicians' comments had on the elections. Not to mention the millions of dollars of Koch brothers money that poured into the area against unionization.

working class interests. It's really an important thing to do, since setting labor value in the future could depend very much on this along with what unions say they offer employers.

Why wouldn't they be cynical about it?

No one has ever stood up for them before, what in their experience would lead them to think that anyone's going to stand up for them now?

in the very act they rejected and seem to consider so evil; the workers voting.