Portside

Union members, journalists, academics and others express differing viewpoints on the significance of the United Auto Workers union loss in the representation election at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in this New York Times' "Room for Debate" piece.

Bernard Osterloh, head of VW's work council in Germany, stated that VW might not build another plant in the South. He said one might draw the conclusion that conservatives anti-union interference "amounts to unfair labor praxis."

There are a number of talk radio shows around the country covering — and funded by — organized labor that are still up and running, but like the labor movement as a whole, what remains is a far cry from the time when unions and the concerns of workers were a dominant part of the media landscape. The dozen or so shows that still offer labor and union concerns to radio listeners are mostly local, based in the traditional union strongholds of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The University of Illinois at Chicago United Faculty successfully organized a union in 2012 but have not been able to reach an agreement with the administration on a first contract. The union is prioritizing higher wages, particularly for non-tenure track faculty, and a greater share of decision-making power in the university. They have called a two-day strike for the next two days.

"The outcome of the vote, however, does not change our goal of setting up a works council in Chattanooga," Gunnar Kilian, secretary general of VW's works council, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that workers continued to back the idea of labor representation at the plant.