The Decline of Democratic Unionism

Volkswagen’s decision to allow multiple employee representatives at the bargaining table could undermine America’s longstanding practice of majority rule in labor relations, according to legal experts.

David Phippen, a management-side labor lawyer with Constangy, Brooks, & Smith, said VW’s policy embraces the European concept of “minority bargaining representation” and represents a further drift away from traditional American labor organizations.

“Under current law an employer is not supposed to bargain legally with a union that doesn’t purportedly represent a majority bargaining unit,” Phippen said.

Unionization in the United States has historically been a winner-take-all game. Labor organizations that surpassed the 50 percent threshold in secret ballot elections or card check campaigns are able to represent 100 percent of the workforce. Those that only manage 49.9 percent of the vote go home empty-handed.

VW, a German-based automaker, and the UAW, the Detroit-based labor giant in decline, are pioneering a third way. UAW only managed to attract 47 percent support from VW workers in right to work Tennessee during in its failed February secret ballot election. Rather than abiding by itscontractual obligation to abandon organizing at the Chattanooga plant for at least one year, the UAW formed a “volunteer union” in July to give workers an outlet for their support. The union launched a similar effort at an Alabama Mercedes plant in October.

“The UAW’s attempts in Tennessee and Alabama are a veiled attempt to create a situation that brings minority union bargaining to a head,” Phippen said.

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