Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” to discuss Volkswagen Chattanooga workers’ recent vote against representation by the United Auto Workers union, U.S. Senator Bob Corker said it would be “unprecedented” if the National Labor Relations Board overturns the decision of employees at the plant due to comments by elected officials.
"The workers realized that there was just nothing the UAW had to offer," said Senator Corker. "They were there because of money. They were there because of dues. [The employees] already made more than what UAW workers in other plants with the same length of service were making. Now the UAW is appealing… saying we interfered somehow by sharing concerns with our community. It will be unprecedented if the National Labor Relations Board overrules for that reason.”
Senator Corker went on to discuss the double standard he and other Republican elected officials are being held to, noting that President Obama weighed in on behalf of the UAW during the three-day voting period.
“The president weighed in during the election process also,” said Senator Corker. “For me to express concerns about what it would mean to our community and our state over time is something that I think people elect me to do. This is an interesting case. Hopefully – even though this is [President] Obama’s NLRB, these are his appointees – hopefully they will do the right thing here and not try to muzzle people who are elected by people in their state.”
Senator Corker penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday warning of the high stakes of the NLRB ruling on an appeal filed by the UAW. “The National Labor Relations Board soon will have to decide whether to follow years of precedent and let the vote of the workers stand—or whether it will try to muzzle elected officials and prevent them from weighing in on issues of critical importance to the communities they represent, possibly because the members of the NLRB did not like the outcome of a vote by workers. The nation will be watching this ruling closely.”
Read the op-ed in its entirety here.