By Larry Grohn
The VW plant in Chattanooga has become the focal point, and the battle ground, for the UAW's attempt to start chipped away at TN's right to work law. They intend to use Chattanooga to force a wedge into the state and then branch out into all of the auto industry in Tennessee. Thursday, July 18 there will be an informational meeting concerning this effort by the UAW. The event is hosting the Citizens for a Free Market.
The three guest speakers are:

   
Photo by Samuel E Burns
All one has to do is look at what happened to the VW plant in New Stanton, PA. to see what happened when the UAW came into the VW's plant in PA..

Then there is this from Wikipedia on New Stanton:
  • Volkswagen of America (VWoA) operated the Westmoreland Assembly Plant, in neighboring East Huntingdon Township from 1978 to 1988.Westmoreland, as VWoA called the facility, manufactured the Volkswagen Rabbit, Rabbit truck, Golf, and Jetta. With the downturn of VWoA's sales in the USA and a host of labor problems, the plant was closed in July, 1988 and VWoA sold the plant to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The facility employed more than 6,000 by mid-1981. When it closed 2,500 jobs were lost.
  • It remained dormant until 1990, when Sony announced it would begin manufacturing televisions at the site. The plant still employed over 3,000 people by the late 1990s, however that number dwindled to just 250 in 2007. In December, 2008, the Governor of Pennsylvania announced that Sony planned to close the facility. As of 2010, the 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) plant remains idle, the largest block of commercial space available in Western Pennsylvania.



Photo by Samuel E Burns

The VW plant became unproductive due to the fact that it, and other US plants, could not compete with foreign auto makers because of the shifting market and the high labor cost imposed by UAW contracts. The UAW was one of the primary causes of the demise of the US auto industry. Just look at the region where the US auto industry was located - Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc - to see the results of bad management, poor analysis of the changing market and the effects of the UAW contracts.
I urge you to attend the meeting at Embassy Suite on Shallowford Rd on July 18. You should plan to arrive by 6 pm as seating may be limited. The program begins at 6:30 and will end by 8:30
Of course this is the perfect opportunity to visit Ruth's Chris either before or after the meeting Thursday night. There is also a bar inside the hotel and in Ruth's Chris for those who would like to wet their whistle.