Art Wheaton, automotive industry expert and senior extension associate with Cornell University’s ILR School, argues that the United Auto Workers union (UAW) decision to drop its appeal to the National Labor Relations Board actually helps the union cause.

In February, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, rejected the UAW organizing effort. The UAW had appealed those election results to the National Labor Relations Board.

Wheaton says:

“This decision by the UAW may benefit the workers of VW in the long run. Dropping the appeal allows the clock towards a new union election to begin. Had the UAW continued the legal appeals it could have been years before a new union election could be held.

“It also gives the UAW and Volkswagen workers time to see what the Congressional investigation uncovers. The National Labor Relations Board case was always a difficult case with no clear winner with political influence increasing the complexity.”

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