Authored By chloe.morrison

The American Council of Employees union has accused rival group United Auto Workers of exploiting Volkswagen’s emissions scandal in an effort to get a faster ruling from the National Labor Relations Board about the December election of maintenance employees.

But the UAW says in new documents that VW is denying the group its collective bargaining rights.

“This delay is deeply harmful, and [the] union asks that it promptly end,” according to the document, which was filed with the NLRB on March 29.

In December, a group of about 150 maintenance employees at Volkswagen Chattanooga voted for representation. VW officials later appealed the decision, citing the preference for an all-or-nothing-type organization. VW doesn’t want to divide the workers into small groups because they say it goes against their one-team vibe.

The NLRB has yet to make a decision about the appeal, and an NLRB spokeswoman said Wednesday that there is no update on the case.

ACE leaders said that the document shows that the UAW is lobbying to limit deliberations and get a ruling in an “unusually short time frame.”

“Of course we all knew that the local impact of the Volkswagen diesel [emissions] issue would be made worse by the UAW’s ill-timed election and dispute with the company, but it’s really upsetting to see them so blatantly attempt to exploit this crisis as part of their strategy to gain leverage,” ACE President David Reed said, commenting on the document.

But the UAW said in the filing that the collective bargaining rights are needed now especially because of the emissions scandal, which is the result of EPA allegations that the company broke the law by installing “defeat device” software, which detects when a car is undergoing an emissions test and only turns on full emission controls to pass the test. When the car isn’t being tested, it is polluting more than officials reported to the EPA.

According to the document:

The right to collective bargaining continues to be denied here, precisely at the time when it is needed most, with the result that the job security and other interests of unit employees faced with the knock-on effects of Volkswagen’s emissions crisis have not been addressed. This is wrong, and the board must act promptly to right this wrong. UAW Local 42 and its members ask the board to immediately deny Volkswagen’s request for review.

UAW Local 42 President Mike Cantrell said that the UAW is “simply asking the board to uphold its own decisions and do so in a timely manner,” considering that the NLRB supervised and certified the election of maintenance workers.

“We remain hopeful that Volkswagen will comply with federal law and move forward soon in collective bargaining with UAW Local 42 on behalf of the skilled trades employees,” he also said in a prepared statement. “The members of UAW Local 42 have rolled up our sleeves and we’re ready to be part of the Volkswagen comeback story.”

ACE also outlines strategy

ACE said that they have continued to work with VW leaders under the company’s community organization engagement policy-which allows representatives from both the UAW and ACE to engage with VW leaders-while the UAW suspended interactions.

“We presented management with a list of commonsense solutions that would make [employees’] jobs easier and the facility more efficient, like reforming the haphazard overtime policy,” Reed said in a prepared statement. “We then asked them to bring the suggestions to the wider employee roundtables, and, seeing the overwhelming support, after a few months they finally adopted our policy proposal. We think this is a pretty big step forward.”

Moving forward, ACE will push for changes to the paid time off policy and the job promotion process.

ACE Vice President Tom Haney said his organization is going to continue to push for change and aim to help secure increased production at the local plant.

“That’s all we can do really-focus on improving the workplace and pray that we can rebound from whatever fallout is caused by the emissions crisis and the UAW’s opportunistic fight with the company,” he said in a prepared statement.

Cantrell said that the UAW is engaged in conversations with VW leaders under the community organization engagement policy: