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Petition Description

There has been a lot of intense discussion lately over the construction of Volkswagen’s new production facility at the Enterprise South site in Chattanooga.

Everyone in the greater Chattanooga region believes that the Volkswagen project is a good thing for this community. In general, the use of taxpayer-funded incentives to encourage commercial development in the state of Tennessee is, and should be, encouraged…provided there are provisions to ensure that Tennessee workers reap the benefits.

Unfortunately, when it comes to these agreements, the devil is always in the details.

The “Memorandum of Understanding” negotiated between the state of Tennessee and Volkswagen DOES NOT contain a stringent and enforceable “local hire” provision that would ensure that Tennessee workers and contractors and businesses are reaping the gains of these projects and investments.

We question the benefit of giving VW almost $600 million to construct this huge facility in our state if Tennessee workers are not given preferred status in building it.

According to eyewitness accounts of workers currently on this job, the vast majority of the hundreds of workers on the site are from states and areas other than Tennessee.

This is an outrageous act of political malfeasance and economic betrayal, given that Tennessee has an unemployment rater in excess of 11% statewide.

We would have thought that protecting the interests of Tennessee workers would have been a priority when it came time to negotiate this agreement. After all, when the state of Mississippi successfully lured Toyota to build at a site that was in relative close proximity to other states (including Tennessee), Governor Haley Barbour wisely negotiated a “local hire” provision that would ensure that Mississippi workers benefitted from the investment of Mississippi tax dollars.

Estimates are that there is the potential for upwards of $2 – 3 billion more in commercial development proposed for Tennessee that will be funded with state taxpayer money.

We believe that it should be the policy of the state of Tennessee to mandate the inclusion of “local hire” provisions in any agreements involving commercial development that are funded in whole, or in part, with taxpayer money.