UAW to picket dealers in bid to unionize ‘transplant’ sites in South

By G. Chambers Williams III/The Tennessean

As the United Auto Workers gears up to try to unionize foreign auto assembly plants in the South, the union has begun training regional organizers to focus on the dealerships of whichever automakers it decides to target.

The union’s idea would be to use “informational picketing” aimed at “educating” customers as they enter car dealers’ storefronts. Union officials say the picketing wouldn’t be as intense as the UAW might use at a strike-bound auto plant, which typically aims to deter people from entering the factory gates.

But UAW officials do concede that union sympathizers, such as truck drivers who are Teamsters members delivering new vehicles to dealerships, might balk at crossing the picket lines.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111128/BUSINESS03/311280024/UAW-picket-dealers-bid-unionize-transplant-sites-South

Tagged as: corporate campaigns, foreign automakers, teamsters, Tennessee, UAW, union officials, union organizing campaigns, union protests