Writing for the Tennessean, Executive Director Matt Patterson writes about how Tennessee taxpayers are subsidizing union activty at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant.

When Volkswagen Chattanooga opened its doors in 2011, it did so with generous help from the Tennessee taxpayer.

In fact, the more than a half-billion dollars in subsidies that the company received to come to Tennessee amounted to the “richest incentive package — and perhaps the most government assistance and tax breaks ever for an American automobile plant,” according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

And here is what the taxpayers of Tennessee are getting for their money: The United Auto Workers, a hard left political organization that bankrupted General Motors and spends millions to elect liberal politicians, has been given full access to the Chattanooga facility.

Union officials, including Region 8 Director Gary Casteel, have been granted office space in the plant to better force-feed his union’s propaganda to the workers (who were not given the opportunity to ask questions in return, according to sources). And UAW troops sporting shirts emblazoned with the union logo have been roaming the production lines, intimidating workers who are just trying to do their jobs.

And here is what else is going on in the tax-subsidized VW plant: Workers who have requested equal access to those facilities to talk about alternatives to UAW representation have been denied permission to do so by Sebastian Patta, Volkswagen vice president of human resources at Chattanooga.

Back in Germany, the Volkswagen Works Council is controlled by IG Metall, a powerful union that is allied with the UAW and hasstrongly urged Chattanooga workers to accept UAW representation.

Would the state of Tennessee or the city of Chattanooga have given so much so willingly to Volkswagen had they known the UAW was part of the deal? Doubt it. Here’s why:

At the time Volkswagen was breaking ground in 2009, the UAW was part owner of General Motors, having been given one-sixth of the company during the auto bailout. GM is a competitor of Volkswagen. Then there’s the UAW political agenda. This union is bad for business and bad for politics. And no one in Tennessee was told that this union poison was going to be poured into the economic pool.

Let’s be clear about what’s happening in Chattanooga. Upper management is conspiring with the union to give it every advantage in the coming election, while doing everything it can to shut down dissenting voices. Sources tell the Center for Worker Freedom that plant supervisors who oppose the union are afraid to speak out for fear of their jobs. Sources also tell us that workers feel they are under “lockdown” while they are on the job, as union troops patrol the production lines in a classic projection of power and intimidation.

It stinks. It is an outrage, and it all is being subsidized by Tennessee taxpayers.