Haslam Assures VW Workforce ‘Tennessee Is Not Going Anywhere’

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam visited Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga Wednesday during a shift change to reassure workers. He later told reporters he could understand if some of the 1,500 employees have doubts about their jobs following VW’s global emissions cheating scandal.

“It’s only natural that you’d have people worried about it. They read the newspaper. They listen to the news just like everybody else does,” he said.

Haslam said “for better or worse,” the state is “married” to Volkswagen.

“The state of Tennessee is not going anywhere in terms of supporting you all. We want this to be a success, and — I’m speaking personally right now — I still think that can happen.”

Taxpayers put up $577 million to subsidize
initial construction of the plant and even more
this year to help pay for its expansion. Some lawmakers have feared the addition of a new assembly line could be abandoned, given the company’s current crisis. A Senate committee has scheduled a
hearing for later this month to be held in Chattanooga.

Haslam said he’s confident the so-called “claw back” provisions in the most recent $168 million payment to VW will protect the state if the promised jobs don’t materialize. But after touring the Chattanooga plant, the governor cited “the amount of new steel and concrete being poured” as evidence that the expansion appears to be going forward as originally planned.