Ad Claims Politicians Sold Out Tennessee Workers
They call themselves "Volunteers for Local Hire" and make bold claims suggesting people in our region got fleeced by politicians who helped bring Volkswagen to Chattanooga.
The claims most recently came in the form of a full-page ad that greeted readers of Tuesday morning's Chattanooga Times Free Press, page A-4. The ad asks people to call five political leaders and demand to know why, in their words, politicians sold out Tennessee workers.
"Volunteers For Local Hire" suggests that when VW got almost $600-million in publicly-funded incentives they should have "mandated" that Tennessee contractors and workers would do all the work at the Enterprise South Park site.
Chattanooga City Councilman Jack Benson said the full-page ad makes ridiculous claims.
"If we had told Volkswagen or any other company we're trying to recruit coming here you can only hire local people we would have lost that company, they would have gone someplace else," Benson said.
Just last week Frank Fischer, the CEO of Volkswagen's Chattanooga Operations, said about half of contracts let so far were to companies in the region.
"Volunteers for Local Hire" posted the pictures of Governor Phil Bredesen, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, U.S. Representative Zach Wamp and Mayors Ron Littlefield and Claud Ramsey. The group wants you to call them and "demand" to know why they allowed less that 100% local contractor participation.
NewsChannel 9 called Greg Jones in Knoxville, who was named as a spokesperson for "Volunteers For Local Hire." We wanted to know more about who's behind the ad and where their money comes from. Jones did not want to comment and did not want to give any other names and phone numbers of people associated with his group. Jones said we should go to their website and send questions via e-mail.
Our e-mail requests for information from "Volunteers For Local Hire" have not been answered as of late Tuesday.
Benson said the secrecy of "Volunteers for Local Hire" speaks volumes.
"This does not have attribution, I don't know who put this ad in the paper," Benson said.
The group's website features more claims of "selling out Tennessee workers" though statements, so-called "news articles" and a cartoon depicting a dump truck carrying Tennessee money out of state. It also shows the list of publicly-funded incentives VW got that they call "giveaways."
Benson said while half the the VW site work is being done by out of town contractors, the community still benefits.
"If they have to go out of town to bring them in that's fine if they are the best for the job ,and they'll move into Chattanooga and be new residents of Chattanooga and they will become local," Benson said.
So as it stands we can't tell you whose behind the ad, who is paying for it and what their ulterior motive is.
Here are statements issued from several political leaders in reaction to Tuesday's ad:
"The information has all been previously discussed so there's no sense in re-hashing it right now."
- Richard Beeland, spokesperson for Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield.
"I remain committed to providing as many local jobs as possible, not only at Volkswagen but at all our local growing businesses. Companies like Alstom, Westinghouse and Chattem are engaged in ongoing expansions proving new jobs and opportunities. Hamilton County works closely with every company that invests in our community to provide as many jobs as possible to our people, the residents of Hamilton County."
- Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey
"I couldn’t be more excited about the impact Volkswagen and its suppliers will have on our community and the region for decades to come. Based on my work in Washington this is exactly what I’ve come to expect from a group organized and funded by the D.C. division of the AFL-CIO.”
- U.S. Senator Bob Corker
"I have consistently encouraged VW to hire local whenever possible, and certainly there is evidence that they have. However, if there are other ways to include our outstanding local contractors and workers in even more work, they should be pursued to the fullest."
- U.S. Representative Zach Wamp
