Big Union Loses Big

I am not surprised by the vote.
From Bloomberg: The United Auto Workers could be forced to reconsider its efforts to organize at foreign-owned factories in the U.S., a labor expert said, as the union vowed to keep fighting after losing a closely watched vote at Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s Tennessee plant.
Workers in Chattanooga voted 712-626 on Feb. 14 against joining the UAW after three days of balloting that drew intense opposition from elected officials. The company didn’t fight the UAW campaign, which may have cost as much as $5 million and lasted more than two years, said Gary Chaison, a labor law professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
A victory would have added momentum as the UAW seeks to sign up workers at a Daimler AG factory in Vance, Alabama, and other foreign automakers, known as transplants, that settled in the U.S. South to take advantage of tax breaks, non-union labor and easy access to market. Now the UAW must regroup, he said.
“This is a time for soul-searching at the UAW and within the American labor movement,” Chaison said yesterday in an interview. “This was the ideal situation and they know that. They might just give up on transplants.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-16/auto-union-seen-regrouping-after-loss-at-volkswagen-plant.html
There is very little to be gained to by joining a union and having a union shop.  The workers would have to pay a lot of money in union dues to support the lavish lifestyles of the union leaders and the workers get very little in return.