Dear Friend,

More than a year ago, VW-Chattanooga Team Members created the American Council of
Employees for one purposeto protect our rights as employees to speak for ourselves on those
matters impacting our jobs and affecting our facility.
ACE is still the only organization dedicated solely to the success of Volkswagen in Chattanooga.
We are not beholden to outside groups, competing automakers or self-interested labor leaders.
When you join ACE, you know exactly what you are standing for and who you are standing
beside.
The members of ACE stand for:
Ensuring that all team members, not just a select group, have a voice in determining the future
of our facility.
Establishing an effective, local works council model, capable of communicating directly with
the VW Global Works Council.
Guaranteeing respectful treatment of team members, appropriate conduct of supervisory
personnel and direct interaction with management.
Maintaining competitive wages, job security and a high quality work environment.
This week, some VW-Chattanooga Team Members are asked to vote as to whether they want to
be represented exclusively by the United Auto Workers. Unfortunately, the UAW, admitting
their failure to secure support of a true majority, denied us the right to vote together as a unified
workforce, opting instead to subdivide maintenance workers with no concern for how this might
negatively impact employees long-term interests.
Nevertheless, we should all take this opportunity to evaluate such an extremely critical decision.
When all of the facts are examined, it is clear that the UAW is not the right choice for
Volkswagen or Chattanooga.
Most upsetting is the fact that the UAW would chose such an inappropriate time to demand an
election.
As we all know, Volkswagen and our facility are in the midst of a crisis. We need unity now
more than ever. The company needs our support to overcome some very significant challenges,

AMERICAN COUNCIL OF EMPLOYEES

VW-CHATTANOOGA

and Team Members need to support one another within the effort to improve our workplace and
ensure the stability and quality of our jobs.
The timing of this ambush election amounts to the UAW kicking us while we are down, and
puts all of our jobs at risk. Is this the sort of organization we want speaking on our behalf?
The UAW has intentionally left many questions unanswered What voice, if any, will other
Local 42 members have if the UAW becomes the exclusive representative of such a small
number of employees? How would VW-Chattanooga employees interests be prioritized, when
99% of the UAWs automotive members represent competitors from Detroit? What influence
does IG Metalls partnership with UAW have, and how will their pledge to keep production jobs
in Germany impact our facility?
We had hoped that our fellow team members would be provided with the information needed to
determine exactly who and what they are voting for, but this hasnt been the case.
The UAW has repeatedly said that exclusive union representation is the only avenue to
establishing a works council at VW-Chattanooga Operations. As we now see, that is entirely
false. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just released a report, backed by lawful authority, which
directly states that the concept of a works council is legally incompatible with exclusive union
representation. If this is true, we have to ask ourselves, what are the UAWs real intentions?
What exactly would we be getting if we voted for the UAW?
Without question, we know that ACE supports Volkswagen-Chattanooga Operations, ACE
supports all Volkswagen team members, and ACE supports the Chattanooga community.
So please, ask yourself, who truly deserves your support?
Sincerely,
American Council of Employees

David Reed
Team Leader, VW-Chattanooga
President, ACE-Chattanooga

Tom Haney
Lab Specialist, VW-Chattanooga
Vice President, ACE-Chattanooga

AMERICAN COUNCIL OF EMPLOYEES

VW-CHATTANOOGA