By any election standard, we would call a 53-47% victory a strong win. It's not a landslide but wasn't close either.
The workers in a Tennessee plant shook up union leaders in the last 24 hours, as reported by The Wall Street Journal:
"Volkswagen workers rejected the union by a vote of 712 to 626. The defeat raises questions about the future of a union that for years has suffered from declining membership and influence, and almost certainly leaves its president, Bob King, who had vowed to organize at least one foreign auto maker by the time he retires in June, with a tarnished legacy.The unions are trying to spin it by saying that they lost by 80-something votes. No way! They lost 53-47%.
"If the union can't win [in Chattanooga], it can't win anywhere," said Steve Silvia, a economics and trade professor at American University who has studied labor unions."
I think that the voters rejected the union for a few reasons:
1) Union membership means little these days. It does not guarantee jobs as we've learned in Michigan or Ohio. In fact, you can argue that union membership will drive plants elsewhere.
2) What do you get for paying dues? You support Democrats and not much else. Union contributions go Democrat and that does not play well in Tennessee.
Last,but not least, union membership gets you leaders who didn't read Obama Care or how it would impact jobs. Why vote for unions that don't read or understand the laws that they fight to pass?
Why join a union? I think that is why 53% said "no thanks"! 53% said that they are happy keeping their own money rather than paying dues.
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