Six Southern Governors Warn Against UAW's Unionization Campaign

(RTTNews) - U.S. Governors of six Southern states have warned against United Auto Workers or UAW's unionization campaign for workers of major automakers, citing threat for the jobs and the values they live by.

In a joint statement, the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas said they are highly concerned about the unionization campaign driven by misinformation and scare tactics that the UAW has brought into these states.

The move comes as UAW said Southern non-union autoworkers are organizing to join the union in the wake of the historic Stand Up Strike victory at the Big Three auto companies.

Volkswagen workers of Chattanooga factory in Tennessee have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold vote to join the UAW. Voting begins Wednesday and lasts three days till April 19. The results are expected late Friday. Mercedes workers in Alabama filed for their election recently, and hope to be voting in their union election by early May.

The joint letter was issued by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, along with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Noting that they have worked hard to bring good-paying jobs to these states, the Governors believe unionization would certainly put these states' jobs in jeopardy, mainly as all of the UAW automakers have already announced layoffs in this year.

They wrote, "In America, we respect our workforce and we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch. No one wants to hear this, but it's the ugly reality. We've seen it play out this way every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation. And we are seeing it in the fallout of the Detroit Three strike with those automakers rethinking investments and cutting jobs. Putting businesses in our states in that position is the last thing we want to do."

The governors added that a more positive working environment is offered when employees have a direct relationship with their employers. They can advocate for themselves and what is important to them without outside influence.

The Republican governers expressed serious reservations that the UAW leadership can represent their values. "They said they want to keep good paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector here, but a successful unionization drive would stop this growth in its tracks," the letter noted.

The union in early April said over 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at select Mercedes, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Toyota factories. Workers at over two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing.

In December, the UAW had filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB against Honda Motor, Hyundai Motor and Volkswagen, accusing the automakers of illegally union-busting as workers organize to join the UAW.

The UAW has also filed federal labor charges against Mercedes for illegal union busting, as well as charges in a German court for labor violations that could net billions in penalties for the German automaker.