The union strategy: If at first you don’t succeed, call in favors to have lawmakers do the dirty work
After trying unsuccessfully for years to unionize workers at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, CA, the United Auto Workers union (UAW) has called in a hefty chit with the state’s Democrat lawmakers.
This editorial in The Wall Street Journal perfectly summarizes the latest example of union's disturbing influence on policymaking and elected officials' unapologetic allegiance to their biggest donors:
"California Democrats have finally found a cause that’s worth suspending their environmental passions. The United Automobile Workers are struggling for a presence in Tesla’s Fremont plant, and organized labor has called in a political favor.
Since 2010 California has offered a $2,500 rebate to encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles. But last week, at unions’ behest, Democrats introduced an amendment to cap-and-trade spending legislation that would require participating manufacturers to get a sign-off from the state labor secretary verifying that they are “fair and responsible in their treatment of workers.”
The legislation, which passed Friday, is a direct shot at Tesla. The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project has amounted to a $82.5 million subsidy for the company, giving extra incentive to 32,842 Tesla buyers in seven years.
Tesla’s sales have been built with taxpayer support. When Hong Kong cut back its electric-vehicle tax credits earlier this year, Tesla sales dropped to zero in April from nearly 3,000 the month earlier. And when Denmark scaled back incentives last year, electric-car sales plummeted by 70%.
The labor secretary in California is hand-picked by unions and their Democratic allies, and last month the UAW and a few auto workers filed a complaint against Tesla with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair labor practices.
But the plant’s employees are doubtless aware of the union’s abysmal record in Fremont, which stretches back decades. In the early 1980s, the union’s control was so complete that General Motors couldn’t fire even workers who drank, used drugs and had sex at the Fremont plant. Roughly one in five workers failed to show up on any given day. The plant closed in 1982—no surprise. Auto workers got a second shot with a GM-Toyota joint venture, but that was shuttered in 2010.
A record of closures and corruption contributed to the UAW’s defeat last month at a Mississippi Nissan plant, where workers voted nearly two-to-one against the union. Organized labor needs political coercion because it can’t win over workers on its own. As for electric cars and green subsidies, what progressive politicians give away with one hand they want to redistribute with another."