CEI’s Labor Project Launches Educational Campaign in Chattanooga About United Auto Workers Union

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 28, 2013 — CEI Senior Fellow and Labor Project Director Matt Patterson has begun a summer-long campaign to educate business leaders, politicians, and concerned citizens about the history, tactics and legacy of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.

CEI will be working with local free-market activists, including representatives from the Tea Party and Students for Liberty, to distribute materials, such as flyers and pamphlets, detailing the negative economic consequences of UAW representation. The team designed a large billboard on a prominent Chattanooga highway reading “Auto Unions ATE Detroit. Next Meal Chattanooga?” which will be up through August.

“The citizens of Chattanooga should know that if the plant workers decide to unionize, the consequences could be devastating—for the plant, the town, and indeed all of Tennessee,” Patterson said. “The United Auto Workers union has a history of saddling companies—and entire industries—with job-killing costs and red tape.”

Labor Project team members have been contributing opinion and analysis on the issue for local press, Forbes, and CEI’s flagship labor website WorkplaceChoice.org. All these materials can be found on WPC’s special projects page here.

The Chattanooga Volkswagen plant has employed thousands since it opened in 2011 and pumped millions of dollars into the local economy. The history of the UAW suggests that unionization of the VW plant would drive up costs and regulations that would make the plant less productive and less profitable. A plant that is less productive or profitable, needless to say, will offer fewer jobs, if it remains in operation at all.

Contact Matt Patterson at [email protected] or log onto WorkplaceChoice.org for more information.