Volkswagen Chattanooga: We Hire

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: January 31st, 2012

The line at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant will run a little faster. It will produce 35 cars instead of 31 per hour. That also produces new jobs. In an emailed statement, VWoA announced today that 200 new permanent jobs will be created at its Tennessee plant.

The increased production is needed to keep up with the demand. Volkswagen’s new car sales were up 23 percent for 2011, and a whopping 31 percent in December. The market grew 10 percent for the year, and 9 percent for December. The Passat, which is built in Chattanooga, is a brisk seller. “Each car that we make is sold on the spot,” says Volkswagen spokesman Guenther Scherelis. He did not want to speculate on January sales, which will be announced tomorrow.

This should create smiles all-around. Ryan Rose, head of HR in Chattanooga, explains:

“These 200 new positions are all full-time Volkswagen jobs. We will use this opportunity to hire many of our current Aerotek contract employees. So, Aerotek will be recruiting to fill full-time contract production positions that will open up as a result. We will also be hiring additional supervisors and engineers – so there are a lot of opportunities.”

Aerotek provides contract employees to VW. The new full-time jobs will be integrated into Volkswagen’s current two-shift operation. Volkswagen gains experienced team-members, and new openings for contract workers are created. Who will be in-line for full-time jobs when the line will make a few more cars per hour down the road. ..

Currently, the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga employs more than 2,500 people, about 2,000 by Volkswagen, and an additional 500 by Aerotek. This number will now rise to 2,700.

It’s good that the UAW had hoisted the white flag and gave up on unionizing the South. The UAW already was not welcome in Chattanooga. With 200 new jobs created, the question would even more be:

“1,2,3,4 – what are we paying for?”

In other big news, Volkswagen now is doing something for it’s image when seen from above. Says Bloomberg:

“Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant will add a big, flat-mounted rooftop sign that can be seen from the air and is so large the plant’s chief executive said it will be visible online on Google Earth.”

#BertelSchmitt #Chattanooga #Jobs #Volkswagen

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 27 comments

Brettc on Feb 01, 2012

That's great that they're adding more workers, it should make lots of people happy. I know there are a lot of people complaining on the TDI forums about the long wait times for their pre-ordered Passat TDIs. From what I read yesterday they were doing only TDI production for a while recently to get cars to people with deposits on them. If you look at your local VW dealer inventory there are lots of gas models sitting on lots, but very few TDIs (14 2.5 gas and 1 TDI SE at my local dealer). Hopefully this helps eliminate the long wait times and the gas and diesel powered cars prove to be reliable and VW doesn't abandon another US factory again. Although I think they learned their lesson with Westmoreland.

Like Reply
Icemilkcoffee on Feb 01, 2012

So how permanent are these 'permanent jobs'? Until the state tax holiday runs out and they relocate to some other southern state dangling new tax holidays in front of them?

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Jalop1991 does the odometer represent itself in an analog fashion? Will the numbers roll slowly and stop wherever, or do they just blink to the next number like any old boring modern car?
MaintenanceCosts E34 535i may be, for my money, the most desirable BMW ever built. (It's either it or the E34 M5.) Skeptical of these mods but they might be worth undoing.
Arthur Dailey What a load of cow patties from fat cat politicians, swilling at the trough of their rich backers. Business is all for `free markets` when it benefits them. But are very quick to hold their hands out for government tax credits, tax breaks or government contracts. And business executives are unwilling to limit their power over their workers. Business executives are trained to `divide and conquer` by pitting workers against each other for raises or promotions. As for the fat cat politicians what about legislating a living wage, so workers don't have to worry about holding down multiple jobs or begging for raises? And what about actually criminally charging those who hire people who are not legally illegible to work? Remember that it is business interests who regularly lobby for greater immigration. If you are a good and fair employer, your workers will never feel the need to speak to a union. And if you are not a good employer, then hopefully 'you get the union that you deserve'.
28-Cars-Later Finally, something possibly maybe worth buying.
EBFlex The simple fact is very small and cheap ICE vehicles have a range thats longer than all EVs. That is the bar that needs met. And EVs cannot meet that.Of course range matters. But that's one element of many that make EVs completely ineffective at replacing ICE vehicles.