Union Leader Does Not Believe VW Jobs Will Go Elsewhere

A local union meets amidst speculation that their national organization may try to cost Volkswagen millions of dollars.

Members of the union met Monday night to discuss their Christmas for Kids party which will help needy families this Saturday, but they can't ignore the controversy swirling around their national organization's demands to hike their labor rates which could have a direct effect on Volkswagen.

Cars pack the parking lot tonight in front of the United Association of Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union #43. The union specializes in pipe fitting, welding, plumbing, and has over eleven hundred members and twenty to twenty-five contractors.

"And do mainly the main big projects around Chattanooga, we've had a hand in those for almost a hundred and twenty years now," Local #43's business manager David Tolley says.

And that's why local #43's business manager David Tolley says their union would love to have a hand in the Volkswagen plant being built at the Enterprise South site right now. But the union is under intense pressure from it's leadership in Washington D.C.

We've reported they want to force our local union to raise labor rates by 25%, or about six dollars an hour.

So the Mechanical Contractors Association of Chattanooga filed an unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board in Atlanta. They tell us a rate hike could cost Volkswagen millions and would violate the current contract rate.

"We support the Mechanical Contractors Association in opposing those who seek to arbitrarily inflate the wage rate. If the national union oversteps the national contract our community will loose business opportunities and our workers will loose jobs," J. Ed Marston, with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, says.

And some believe those jobs could go elsewhere, but Tolley, who says he can't go into many details, doesn't believe that will happen.

"A little surprising that the contractors came out to the media with this situation, I'm not going to call it a problem because I believe that a problem is something that you can't fix," Tolley says.

And Tolley believes this issue can be fixed and hopes to see nearly four hundred members use their skills on the new Volkswagen plant.

"And I want people to know that we're very serious about what we do, we spend a lot of money, and we hope that we have to opportunity to showcase those skills," Tolley says.

And the local business manager tells us this situation will probably be addressed this week and he thinks that all sides will have something they can live with.