Instead of his going out with a bang, it appears UAW Bob King’s retirement party in June will be a barely audible whimper. Unexpectedly it seems, 2014 is turning into Bob King’s Bad Year.
First, there was the UAW’s surprise loss at Volkswagen in Chattanooga. While VW workers are still fighting the UAW’s attempt to unionize them in the Southeast, another company is essentially telling the UAW, “unions ain’t wanted.”
Less than a week after King announced his intent to unionize the upstart electric car-maker Tesla Motors, the company announced that it has narrowed down its site selection for a $5 billion mega-expansion to states that have low union membership.
Tesla Motors Inc. is looking for sites between 500 acres and 1,000 acres in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada or Texas to build a giant battery factory, which could cost as much as $5 billion, the electric car maker said in a regulatory filing late Wednesday. The plant would open in 2017 and employ about 6,500 people. It would reach full capacity by 2020, enough to supply power for 500,000 cars a year. [via MarketWatch.]
Ironically, while the UAW has set up an organizing committee at the company’s current California, the Fremont facility happens to be the same formerly-unionized plant where UAW bosses shouted down unruly UAW members as the plant was being closed.
This may explain why building in anti-business/union-friendly California or other union-dominant states isn’t even being considered. Of course, since up to 50% of manufacturers automatically screen out ‘forced unionism’ states, according to one source, that Tesla would be eyeing Right-to-Work states is not surprising.
In fact, three out of the four states that Tesla is looking at are Right-to-Work states—with New Mexico as the exception—which means that unions like the UAW cannot have workers fired for not paying union does or fees.
Moreover, unlike states in the Northeast and upper Midwest, none of the states mentioned have the reputations of being “union states.”
For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Arizona only has 6.5% of its workforce represented by unions, New Mexico (which does allow forced payments to unions) is only 8.7% unionized, Nevada (which is a right to work state) has the highest union membership at 16.4%, and Texas only has 6.8% of its workforce unionized.
Unfortunately, Bob King only has four more months to try to rebuild a legacy that appears to be like burnt toast on its way into the ash bin of UAW history.
