In These Times, February 21, 2014, Friday

In These Times 

February 21, 2014, Friday

In These Times (full article)

Former teamster official pushed anti-UAW on social media

After the United Auto Workers’ union election loss at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., last Friday, many in organized labor have pointed to outside interference as key to the union’s 43-vote shortfall. Of the various groups that tried to persuade workers to reject unionization, one stood out because it was run by a former union organizer: a group called Be Your Own Best Advocate (BYOBA).

It is not uncommon for those opposing formal unions to propose alternative forms of worker representation that lack the binding power of contracts and third-party arbitration. “There may be workers who believe they may be getting something else, but they will be getting a company-dominated organization whose role has been to keep the union out,” says Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations Professor Kate Bronfenbrenner. “That was the role that company unions played in the ‘20s.”