UAW Rival at VW Represented by 'Union Avoidance' Expert

[Omaha Steve]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/uaw-rival-vw-represented-union-avoidance-expert-31349147

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — May 27, 2015, 7:36 PM ET
By ERIK SCHELZIG Associated Press

The rival group to the United Auto Workers union at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee brands itself as local, independent and free of outside influence or political agenda.

But the American Council of Employees won't divulge how it is funded, and the lawyer who recently filed the group's overdue disclosures with the U.S. Department of Labor touts his expertise in "union avoidance."

ACE has 381 members among both hourly and salaried workers at the Chattanooga factory, according to the filing. By contrast, the UAW said last month it had 816 members among the hourly workers alone. That's about 55 percent of the blue-collar workforce.

ACE wants to prevent the UAW from gaining bargaining rights for the first time at a foreign-owned automaker in the South, and its leaders previously spearheaded the successful effort, dubbed Southern Momentum, that helped thwart the UAW in a union election at the factory last year.

FULL story at link.