chattanooga power point

7/28/2019 Chattanooga Power Point

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+ Chattanooga, UAW &

Free Markets

Presentation by Matt Patterson



+Whose Business Is It?

VW workers will decide for themselves if they want UAWrepresentation, and they have every right to do so

However…

…whatever the workers decide will affect everyone inChattanooga, and all of Tennessee

Unions like the UAW take advantage of laws and regulationsthat privilege them over other private entities, distorting thelabor market and often killing jobs and hindering economic

growth in the process

Whose business is it? YOURS!



+ What is the UAW?

Labor union founded in 1935 with the help of Walter Reuther

President Bob King

Represents workers in automobile, aerospace, agricultural industries inthe U.S, Puerto Rico and Canada

390,000 current members

Mission: “Fighting for social justice for all workers globally”



+ What Does King Mean By“Social Justice?”

The UAW is an open and ardent supporter of left-wing causesand liberal politicians locally and nationally. King calls them his“progressive allies.”

In an article published in the Detroit News in May 2013, Kingcalled for “the people” to re-take the House of Representativesin 2014. People meaning, of course, liberals.

King bragged that he and his progressive allies “scored a hugevictory in November when [we] re-elected President Barack

Obama”

King and the UAW support Obamacare and other job-killinginterventions in the free market



+Union Spending

Where does union money go?

Often, to support ideas and policiesmembers do not agree with

WSJ reports that from 2005-2011

unions spent $4.4 billion on politicalactivity

Political Action Committees are uniontools for spending money on politics

During the 2012 election cycle, theUAW’s PAC gave $1.6 million toFederal candidates -- 99% went toDemocrats – just the tip of the iceberg



+The UAW Buys Politicians

The UAW has been deeply involved in Detroit politics for decades, helping elect the politicians that have run that once-great city into the ground

For instance, current Detroit Mayoral candidate Benny

Napoleon has been enthusiastically endorsed by Bob Kingbecause he has “stood with…union leaders.”

However, according to the Detroit Free Press, as WayneCounty Sheriff, Napoleon is “poised to exceed his $85-millionbudget this year by at least $25 million.”

In other words: the UAW supports politicians that are good for union bosses, but bad for city budgets



+

You can bet theUAW will buy

politicians inChattanooga,too



+ Why Chattanooga? Membership has declined by 74% since its

height in 1979

King needs to organize foreign-owned plantsin the South, admitting: “We know that’s keylong-term to the success of our membership...”

Failed attempts to organize other Southern,foreign-owned plants

Two attempts at Nissan plant in Smyrna,Tennessee

Repeated attempts at Nissan in Canton,Mississippi

The UAW needs Chattanooga, but doesChattanooga need the UAW?



+ The UAW’s Record

Why is the UAW membership declining so drastically?

It has made the Detroit auto industry less profitable andless productive compared to non-unionized auto makersin the South, forcing the Big Three to shed jobs

According to Reuters: “Since 2001, the Detroit Threehave slashed over 200,000 jobs…in the same period,[foreign] automakers have opened eight assembly plantsin the United States, creating almost 20,000 factory jobs.”(“The UAW's Last Stand” December 29, 2011)

In fact, “almost every job lost at U.S. car factories in thelast 30 years has occurred at a unionized company.”



+

“Almost every job lost atU.S. car factories in thelast 30 years hasoccurred at a unionizedcompany”

-Reuters: “The UAW's Last Stand” December 29,2011



+General Motors

Filed for bankruptcy in June 2009

Unsustainable costs driven by UAWcontracts were part of the reason

A 2008 study done by the HeritageFoundation found that UAW workers

“[cost] the Big Three over $70 an hour inwages and current and future benefits.”

Who paid to save GM? You did!

US taxpayers bailed out GM – and the

UAW – to the tune of $49.5 billion The Obama administration helped the

UAW by shutting out creditors andignoring bankruptcy law as they handedthe company over to the union



+ A New UAW?

Bob King: “The 21st-century UAW no longer views[management] as our adversaries or enemies, but as partnersin innovation and quality. Our new relationships with theseemployers are built upon a foundation of respect, sharedgoals, and a common mission.”

Bob King says his organization has changed its ways; it’s a

new UAW. We need to hope that it changed, and I think we allknow how hope and change has worked out elsewhere.



+ Detroit: Capital of the UAW

Decline of Detroit Population

Dropped from 1.85 million in 1950 to700,000 in 2012

In 2013, Forbes ranked Detroit as

“America’s most miserable city” Unemployment at 10%

Housing & Home Prices

Over 30,000 empty houses

Over 90,000 vacant lots

The UAW has been intimatelyinvolved in the politics andeconomy of Detroit for decades – with disastrous results

Photo by Beck Stern/sternlab.org



+The Problem With Unions

In a free and fair labor market, voluntary associations, like tradeunions, would be nobody’s business but the parties involved

But we don’t have a free and fair labor market. Starting with the

National Labor Relations Act and the New Deal, union-backedpoliticians and laws have stacked the deck in favor of the unions inhundreds of ways that distort the market, kill jobs, and hurt workers.

UNIONIZATION IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

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