Sen. Bob Corker

Sen. Bob Corker

Bernd Osterloh, head of VW's global works council, said in a statement that forming a council was important if the plant wanted to produce other VW cars and that he would keep talking with the UAW. [...] "We know how important that (second) vehicle is for Chattanooga," said Osterloh, who as deputy chairman of VW has a say on production decisions. "In the interests of our U.S. colleagues, we're open to such an allocation (of an order)." Osterloh, also a member of the IG Metall engineering union, said the UAW was prepared to cede some of its rights to a works council.

Volkswagen continues to come under pressure at home in Germany to allow workers at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant to unionize and form a works council:Under U.S. law, the workers would need to be unionized in order to have a works council. Last month, the UAW announced that a majority of workers in the plant had signed union cards; the question now is whether, to get to manufacture that second vehicle, management in the U.S. will accept unionization with concessions by the UAW.

But while the UAW would cede some to a works council, that's not good enough for Sen. Bob Corker, who continues his outrage over the notion that a company that is unionized in its home country could unionize in Tennessee without disaster striking. According to Corker, Volkswagen is "being very naïve" in its openness to a UAW works council. Because apparently Bob Corker knows more about the auto business than Volkswagen. That's a Republican for you, thinking business is the most important and awesome thing in the world right up until a business does something he doesn't like.