Originally Posted by olly

I think you meant the VW workers in TN. That struggle was heavily influenced by state and national political influence, and significant anti-union rhetoric from the TN statehouse.

Here's a very interesting article about how Germany's car companies compensate their workers more than american companies, yet have higher sales, and profitability- debunking the non-competitive status a union workforce puts on an company.
How Germany Builds Twice As Many Cars As The U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice As Much - Forbes

A tale of two systems | Remapping Debate