Volkswagen workers vote yes to unionizing, igniting UAW's push to organize the South

I have a crush on the thickish bespectacled Latino guy in the blue Nike shirt.

From early in the count, it was clear that the UAW had won many workers over. Yes votes quickly began outnumbering no votes by about 3 to 1, a lead that held throughout the night.

Quinton North, who assembles battery packs for the Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV, voted no in the last union election at Volkswagen in 2019, swayed by pervasive anti-union messaging in that campaign.

This time, North voted yes, citing the leadership of UAW president Shawn Fain as a big reason.

"He's really showed what he is — he's for the workers," he said at a UAW-organized watch party in Chattanooga.

It's about damned time. I grew up in the industrial midwest. Union all the way. The standard of living when I grew up was high for the average union worker in the automobile industry. Everyone lived well in our communities. We had great healthcare, people had pensions. The average blue collar worker had a nice little house, and a cottage "up north" or near some inland lakes. Their kids went to college. You can tell even today, that the housing stock for the average ordinary single family home was good. Brick houses. sturdy. So I move to the South after 45 years in the north. The housing stock is shit. Everything is cheaply made. People have no taste. Even the so called middle class has nothing worth wanting. They don't even know what they don't have. No concept of what constitutes quality. Their medical care is shabby, third rate. But dammit they have guns and they have churches on every corner. They may have a $7 minimum wage, battling obesity and diabetes, but grandma's Hummingbird Cake is still a favorite, battling for first place with Red Velvet. My point is that unions are an absolute good. I was able to actually measure their impact on the rest of the community up north.

The next UAW target is the Mercedes plant in Alabama.

And six Republican governors (including Tennessee's, who must feel pretty stupid today) have come out against the UAW's recognition. From their statement:

“As governors, we have a responsibility to our constituents to speak up when we see special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.”

Decent wages? Threatening. Decent healthcare? Threatening. Pensions? Threatening.

What [italic]are[/italic] the values they live by?

The Southern governors were raised in mediocrity, they have become accustomed to it, and they will do anything to protect it.

WHat SOutherners didn't like, and some still don't, is that concept of equity. or Parity. No matter what your sex, or race or ethnicity, you all get paid the same. Unions are a brotherhood.

And they’ll shut down the plant and move overseas.

Why?

Because the US government won’t protect US workers

Every VW plant in Europe is unionized

E7 the southern conservative politicians miss the days of chattel slavery and must settle for wage slavery.

Will the plant be moved to Mexico?

I support the union and the workers, but the South is a disgrace and a shit hole and always was.

And it's about time that these Red states start pulling their own weight and stop living off of the backs of Blue state taxpayers.

W00T!