By Al Kinzer
Just before the NLRB hearing about the UAW objections to the VW election was to start, the UAW withdrew its objections to its 712-626 defeat in the February 2014 election. Thus, the UAW ended its legal battle to overturn the election results.
The UAW stated that pursing its objections would take months or years. There was already a fight brewing over the UAW’s subpoenas served on U.S. Senator Corker (R-Tenn.), Tennessee Governor Haslam, and about a dozen other Tennessee state representatives who publicly opposed the UAW’s effort to organize VW. The various elected officials had retained lawyers to move to quash the subpoenas. That issue was to be among the first for the hearing set to start on Monday, April 21. Instead, an hour before the start of the hearing, the UAW formally withdrew its election objections.
By withdrawing its objections now, the UAW (or another union) will be able to petition for a new NLRB election at VW next year. The NLRA bars another election at VW for 12 months. Thus, the UAW (or VW) can petition for another election next April.
In the meantime, the UAW continues its corporate campaign against Nissan. Last week at the New York Auto Show, the UAW announced that it would lead a civil rights-style march on the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi in June. The UAW’s goal is to publicly pressure Nissan to agree to recognize the UAW by signed union cards, rather than require a secret ballot election.