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  3. In 1979 the United Auto Workers(UAW)had more than 1.5m members, and nine of the country’s ten bestselling cars were American bra

In 1979 the United Auto Workers(UAW)had more than 1.5m members, and nine of the country’s ten bestselling cars were American bra

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问题     In 1979 the United Auto Workers(UAW)had more than 1.5m members, and nine of the country’s ten bestselling cars were American brands. The Toyota Corolla came eighth; the first time a foreign-branded car had cracked the top ten. Today the UAW’s membership is around 400,000, and not all of those are car workers: over the years the union has sought recruits on farms, in casinos and at universities. And of the top ten bestselling cars in America last year, seven were foreign-badged.
    Americans are not only buying foreign-badged cars, they are also making them: seven of America’s 15 most productive assembly plants last year were foreign-owned. Although the UAW has had some success at organizing foreign-owned partsmakers, it has so far failed to organize workers at the carmakers themselves. Its attempts in recent years to get into Nissan’s plants in Tennessee and Mississippi have failed. Now it has set its sights on German carmakers: Mercedes and, especially, Volkswagen.
    At VW’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the UAW, with support from IG Metall, which represents workers in VW’s German plants, has been pushing for the creation of a works council. In German law, such factory-level bodies are distinct from labour unions: they cannot call for strikes, and their membership is limited to employees at the plant in question. Their relationships with management tend to be less adversarial than American unions’. But the UAW seems to see them as a foot in the door towards eventual union recognition.
    The status of works councils under American labour law—in particular, whether a company can have a works council without a union—is unclear. Managers are legally prohibited from "assisting" labour unions, and the National Labour Relations Board has tended to interpret that ban strictly. If VW workers do choose a works council, one way of satisfying the law might be to bring in an outside union to represent employees, thereby giving the UAW a way in.
    It is no coincidence that most of the foreign-owned plants have been built in "right to work" states in the South. Such states ban "closed shops" in which employees are forced to join a union at their workplace. This makes it harder for unions to gain influence, even if they have recruited some of the workforce at a plant. But the UAW’s boss, Bob King, has acknowledged that it must keep on trying to organize the foreign-owned assembly plants, otherwise it may not have a long-term future.
    When the foreign carmakers arrived, the UAW was strong enough to force them to pay the wages it had negotiated with the American car giants in Detroit. But as the number of jobs in the foreign-owned plants grew, and Detroit’s workforce shriveled, the union lost that price-setting power. Since the cost of living in the South is relatively cheap, the foreign carmakers could pay less than the American ones but still find plenty of willing recruits.
Which of the following statements about works council in German law is TRUE?
选项 A、It cannot exist without the support of labour unions.
B、It can only organize strikes within the plants.
C、The recruitment area of such bodies is limited.
D、It has no power to fight against the management.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。根据题干关键词works council和German law定位到第三段第二句。该句说，依照德国的法律，工人委员会只能在所在工厂招募会员。由此可知，这种机构组织招募会员的范围是受限制的，因此选[C]。德国法律没有规定works council不能独立存在，故排除[A]；该段第二句明确表示works council不能组织罢工，不论是在工厂内部还是外部，故排除[B]；文章中没有内容提到works council无力与资方抗衡，故排除[D]。
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