VW Labor Head Won't Support U.S. Investments Without Union

The UAW stinging from being unable to convince workers to unionize at Volkswagen's Tennessee plant is one thing. There's hurt over in Germany within VW's labor side over whether to even continue investment in Chattanooga.

Reuters reported today the head of VW's works council, Bernd Osterloh, is intent on stopping further investment in the company's only U.S. plant if there's no kind of unionization like a works council.

"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the south again."

Osterloh told a German newspaper any hopes of a future U.S. plant for VW, especially one in the South, would be under threat if there's no organization at Chattanooga.What isn't certain is whether that means VW's labor contingency will put road blocks in getting more product to the U.S. plant

Remember, it was former Chattanooga mayor and current U.S. senator Bob Corker who insisted there would be no 7-seat VW SUV built in Tennessee if the UAW won last week's vote. Volkswagen refuted that statement. And since the UAW's defeat, there's been no talk about the version of the CrossBlue concept being geared towards Chattanooga, even though there's space to expand that plant.

Still, it's very unlikely Osterloh's stances can make much of an impact on VW investing more in U.S. production.

So the soap opera that is the unionization of the Chattanooga plant continues.

Photo: VW