A Tennessee UAW chapter defended the use of "scab" lists to out non-union members.
UAW Local 1853 President Tim Stannard published a defense of the union’s SCAB Report in the labor group’s newsletter following a Washington Free Beacon report.
"I will continue to publish the SCAB report on a monthly basis in an effort to inform our members on who has chosen to opt out of this great union," he said. "Our strength as a union is directly related to our solidarity as a membership. Our power at the negotiating table relies on Union members sticking together."
The GM plant is located in Spring Hill, TN. Tennessee is a right to work state and allows workers to voluntarily join or opt out of unions. About 30 of the 1,400 workers at the GM plant choose not to pay UAW dues.
The existence of the list of non-union members, which includes their names and work stations, concerned some workers at the plant. One worker, who requested anonymity for fear of union retaliation, said that the list has led to harassment.
"They use it to intimidate us, to get other people to pressure us," he said.
Stannard defended the list when the Washington Free Beacon broke the story on Oct. 7. He said the list is intended to encourage outreach and persuasion, rather than pressure. His newsletter calls on union members to engage with their non-union colleagues.
"Hopefully, some of our members may know one of these individuals well enough to speak candidly to them about the importance of solidarity and the power of collective bargaining," the letter says.
Glenn Taubmann, a lawyer at the National Right to Work Foundation, said that the local union should abandon the practice.
"The UAW bosses are doubling down on their coercive efforts to ostracize independent-minded workers in Right to Work states," he said.
The UAW could also see a dramatic membership increase in right to work Tennessee through GM’s planned $350 million expansion at Spring Hill. Taubmann said that Local 1853’s practices should serve as a warning sign to Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga. Workers at that plant defeated a UAW attempt to organize the plant’s work council. However, the UAW is establishing a "voluntary" labor group.
"Those employees need to know that UAW membership is only voluntary until the UAW bosses take control of a plant, after which the pressure, harassment, coercion and mind-games begin, to force every worker to toe the line and pay up—or else," Taubmann said.