#UnitedAutoWorkers

Tesla employees don’t seem to be too happy. 

Employees at Volkswagen Chattanooga have voted against United Auto Workers (UAW) representation in a secret ballot election.

Former US House Speaker and REpublican party nominee Newt Gingrich recently touched on the auto industry at a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa. At his first real test as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Gingrich responded to a question about jobs leaving the United States and targeted the United Auto Workers (UAW).

Local 551 of Chicago’s Ford Plant gave a resounding “no” to the new four-year labor contract. Local 551 represents about 6 percent of Ford’s United Auto Workers (UAW) employees and according to  secretary-treasurer Scott Houldieson of Local 551, the two-tier pay scale was one of the biggest reasons the plant’s workers voted against it.

Ford is opening the floor to 2011’s contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers—which always ends in suspense.

Ten months ago, a scandal at a Chrysler plant in Detroit broke when workers were caught drinking during their lunch break before returning to work. Now, at a different plant, the boys are at it again.

At the Trenton Engine Plant also in Detroit, Chrysler workers were filmed driving a mile from work, then drinking and smoking in their cars—on a private lot, maintained by the UAW. Workers at the plant say they’re tired of working next to someone who’s buzzed, because “it’s dangerous,” as one source said.

Naturally, Chrysler is indignant. “Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families,” said Scott Garberding, the vice president of manufacturing. “The employees that we identify, as soon as we understand who they are, will be suspended indefinitely without pay and anybody else involved will be dealt with swiftly. It’s very frustrating to us, we take it very seriously.”

Click the jump to see the snarky news story. And all of a sudden, the Chevy ad that airs before it makes sense.

[Source: WJBK Fox 2 Detroit]

UAW President Bob King is angling for seats on the Big Three’s respective Boards Of Directors, and will likely use this as a negotiating point when contracts are discussed with automakers this summer.

General Motors will invest $2 billion across 17 plants, as the company retools existing plants to build new products and hire more workers. GM confirmed that their Toledo, Ohio plant would receive $250 million in improvements and create 250 new jobs.

UAW President Bob King said that the union may abandon their tactic of targeting one automaker during contract negotiations and negotiate with Chrysler, Ford and General Motors at the same time.

General Motors will recall 2,000 laid off workers by September according to a Detroit News report, allowing the company to start hiring new workers for its American plants.

UAW chief Bob King slammed Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s $56.5 million stock package, claiming that “I don’t think any human being in the world deserves that much money.”

With Ford awarding more than $130 million in stock to its top executives, the UAW official in charge of Ford is optimistic that the company will also compensate union members who build the vehicles that Ford sells.

A Chrysler worker, claiming to have been fired after ending a relationship with the son of a United Auto Workers official, is now suing the UAW for sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Even though Toyota saw its dealerships and other facilities picketed by UAW members in 2010, Honda is taking a tough stance on any interference by the United Auto Workers, with John Mendel, Honda‘s executive vice-president, dismissing them in a speech made on Tuesday.

The United Auto Workers continued its campaign of irrelevancy as its President, Bob King, launched a series of veiled threats at foreign automakers with American plants (such as the Honda plant seen above), while simultaneously stating that the very survival of the UAW is at stake – and the organization of a foreign automaker’s plant is the key to the UAW’s continued existence.