Mission Statement
Volunteers for Local Hire is a not-for-profit collection of local
Tennessee organizations and individuals that has been organized to
ensure that current and future local commercial and industrial
development which has been funded through, or in part, with Tennessee
taxpayer funding, should adhere to stringent “local hire” provisions
that mandate preferred status to local contractors and workers in the
awarding of contracts for both the construction and operation of such
projects.
The establishment of Volunteers for Local Hire stems from a growing
concern over the disturbing developments that surround the construction
of a $1 billion automobile production facility for Volkswagen of America
in Chattanooga. Tennessee government officials put together an incentive
package of $566 million of Tennessee taxpayer money to entice Volkswagen
to locate this facility in this region.
According to many firsthand reports and eyewitness accounts, the
workforce that is being comprised to construct this massive facility is
increasingly being comprised of out-of-state workers employed by
out-of-state contractors, as well as many foreign workers from countries
such as Honduras, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.
With an unemployment rate that reached 11% in the summer of 2009, there
is a plethora of qualified Tennessee contractors and workers who could,
and should, be employed on this project.
And with billions of dollars in additional commercial and industrial
development expected to commence across the state of Tennessee in the
next few years (many of it funded with Tennessee taxpayer money),
Volunteers for Local Hire will work to educate lawmakers, the media and
the public on the importance of ensuring that the taxpayers of Tennessee
receive a proper return on such investments – most notably, preferential
“local hire” consideration for local contractors and workers.