WASHINGTON (AP) - The United Auto Workers on Friday challenged last week’s close vote by workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., that rejected the UAW’s bid to represent them.
In an appeal filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the union asserted that “interference by politicians and outside special interest groups” had swayed the election.
In particular, the appeal took aim at Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican and former Chattanooga mayor, who suggested that a “no” vote would lead a Volkswagen expansion in the state.
The UAW bid was defeated in a 712-626 vote, even though the German company generally is considered labor-friendly.
“It’s an outrage that politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that would grow jobs in Tennessee,” UAW President Bob King said.
The union had faced a midnight Friday deadline for filing the action with the NLRB. The rejection by Volkswagen workers dealt a harsh setback to the union, especially since Volkswagen did not oppose the unionization drive.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Police may still have grounds to arrest people for DUI even if they pass field sobriety tests, the Tennessee Supreme Court said in a ruling announced Friday.
The decision involved a Sevier County man whose DUI charges were thrown out after he passed six field sobriety tests.
The unanimous opinion reinstates the charges against David Dwayne Bell and his attorney said the case will be heard at a trial.
“Mr. Bell looks forward to his day in court before a jury of his peers,” attorney Bryan Delius said. He said jurors would be able to see how well Bell did on the tests.
Police stopped Bell in 2009 for driving on the wrong side of the road. He was arrested even though he passed the tests after police said he smelled like alcohol and admitted that he had been drinking. Some of the tests required Bell to stand on one leg while counting to 30, identify the year he had his 5th, 6th and 7th birthdays and say the alphabet from letters G through S.
Three lower counts had ruled that police lacked probable cause to arrest Bell because he had performed so well on the tests.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A school bus carrying a girls’ basketball team from Knoxville to a game in Gatlinburg has crash, causing minor injuries for several people.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol told the Knoxville News Sentinel the injured were taken to LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville.
The bus was carrying the Knoxville Catholic High School team.
The wreck happened around 6 p.m. EST.
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Information from: Knoxville News Sentinel, https://www.knoxnews.comhttps://www.knoxnews.com
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DETROIT (AP) - Police in Tennessee can’t find the man whose Volkswagen Beetle was recently discovered in Detroit, 40 years after it was stolen.
The 1965 car was found in January before it could be shipped to Canada and then to Finland.
Knoxville, Tenn., police spokesman Darrell DeBusk says a man named Joseph McDonald reported it stolen in 1974. He says a phone number left by McDonald no longer works.
DeBusk says McDonald may have been a college student in Knoxville at the time. The car now is white but was red in 1974.
Federal border agents in Detroit who checked the paperwork discovered that the 1965 Beetle was reported stolen. The last owner, a Michigan resident, didn’t know that history. The vehicle was being sent overseas to be restored.
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