More than 1,700 workers at the big Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting this week on whether they want to stand up to the right-wing politicians and the union-busting companies that have been called in to thwart the second union drive in as many years, with workers concerned about working conditions as much as pay and benefits.

Voting started yesterday at the plant and it will continue today and tomorrow. Local politicians and business groups have circled the wagons and tried their best to convince the VW workers that unions are not good for them and that the UAW is only organizing them for the dues they can pay. The workers know better, because they are working at what are arguably the lowest wages in the VW world. And as well, they are working in conditions that are causing injuries on a grand scale and they see the company minimizing those injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Wages aren't that great, either, starting between $15 and $16 an hour, a wage level that fast food workers are demanding around the U.S. as a minimum wage that barely provides the necessities of life. While a job is a job, some of the workers have noticed that there is much turnover in the workforce at VW, because they are not treated as human beings, but part of the assembly line. But that's typical for any large company that has adopted a philosophy of “lean” operation, which means that they will keep whittling down the number of workers to the point at which they can just make production every day. That means lots of injuries, not much time for toilet breaks, if any, and a speed-up of the assembly line.

In the last National Labor Relations Board election two years ago, one would have thought that Chattanooga was under seige by a foreign power, rather than a union that would allow the workers to stand up to the bosses to demand respect and justice, along with good pay, good benefits, and good and safe working conditions. Without a union and union contract, those things are just a dream. But the powers that be in Chattanooga and Tennessee brought out their big guns during that election, with U.S. Senator Bob Corker leading the charge, such that he could have been on the payroll of the union-busters that were brought in.

This time, they have run the same game plan: captive audience meetings to “inform” the workers of the evil nature of unions, propaganda against unions in general, and training of management and supervisors who talk to line workers every day about the benefits of working non-union. And this in a company that has unionized work in all of their global enterprises, as well as a powerful union movement in its home country, Germany, where unionized auto workers represent a powerful part of the social fabric, not just in the auto plants.

VW, however, doesn't have to lift a finger to oppose unionization in Chattanooga, since the rabidly anti-union business community and right-wing politicians will do their dirty work for them. A union-busting company that is plying its trade there says that the money to pay them has come from VW workers and interested persons in the city and state. It's hard to believe that workers being paid between $15 and $23 an hour, even in Tennessee, have the spare cash to to fund fat union-busters to destroy their own interests and welfare and that of their families and communities. They may be oppressed, but they are not dumb. Someone has to change things and they are learning that only they can make the needed changes by working union.

Politicians in that part of the world, however, continue to strive to keep the southern states union-free and tout the “benefits” and they love to point out that the UAW's efforts to unionize other plants in other southern states have not been successful. And, they're proud of it. Keeping the workers down in their place is what their goal is and they have succeeded. Eventually, though, workers see through the propaganda and threats and strive to make the workplace safe and healthy. Right now, auto companies don't need to worry much about health and safety, because there is no right to a safe and healthy workplace without a union. Laws on the books just don't do it, since they are lightly enforced or not enforced at all, while workers suffer and die.

The other big club that is continuously held over the heads of workers in all of the U.S., but especially in the southern states is that the plant will close if you unionize or “we won't get the big expasion of plant and jobs if you unionize.” That was one of the threats that was used in the election two years ago. The company did its part, even though the anti-union effort was led by business interests and their politicians. It hired lawyers to delay and thwart the election that is under way.

“VW should be ashamed of this legal obstruction that led to this,” said a statement from UAW. “It’s sad how Volkswagens’ strategy of using high-priced legal games can stand in the way of the right to vote for Chattanooga workers. Chattanooga workers deserve to know from VW, how much money have you spent on these lawyers to try to stop us from having a voice?” The answer, of course, is lots of money has been spent, much of it coming from east Tennessee manufacturing entities through Southern Momentum, which claims to be a worker organization that opposes the UAW. In reality, this is an old lie that is told by anti-worker organizations, when their money comes from the rich and Corporate America, which desperately wants the American workforce to be pliant and obedient.

Southern Momentum, like other shills of big business usually claim to be the “underdog” in a struggle like VW in Chattanooga, but all of the money and power are on their side and they are most willing to use money, threats, propaganda, and donuts to bring the workers to their side. The workers' side has no money and no power, unless they form a union. Elections like the one that continues today and tomorrow at VW will never be free of coercion by the money powers, but they do have the right to vote on their future. It is up to them.