Vote certified to remove union at Pasco Tyson plant

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Tyson Foods, Inc. said the National Labor Relations Board has certified a workers' vote to remove the Teamsters Union from the company's beef-processing facility in Pasco, ending the union's 28-year affiliation at the plant.

The union had objected to the February vote in which a majority decided to decertify the union, but those objections were withdrawn last week and the vote was certified.

In a statement, Tyson said it is finalizing plans for a pay increase and other benefit enhancements, which will go into effect July 3, for the now non-union employees.

Wages have been frozen since the last labor contract expired in May 2004, and a new contract with the Teamsters was never reached, officials said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/06/06/daily14.html?f=et80

[wakeme2008]

1. Be interesting what

"pay increase and other benefit enhancements" Tyson was offering the non-union people.

[susanna]

10. Give 'em a year or two,

...and they'll be back to minimum wage with no benefits. That is how it works.

In all honesty, I am fast losing sympathy for some of these folks.

[TwentyFive]

16. I'm willing to bet these plant workers listen to Rush Limbaugh and

drink his Kool-Aid. But for them, it's laced with poison. The fools won't find out until it's too late.

[Robbien]

2. The pay raises & benefits will be for current employees only, of course

and then the current employees will be let go because new employees will be cheaper.

These guys just cut their throats. Wonder why the Union withdrew their objection.

[2Design]

4. you really pegged their demise - might be right away or

a year from now - but they will be cut

[liberaliraqvet26]

3. so tyson bribed the workers....

to dump the union

[Jammer]

9. Tyson

Don't the workers have to VOTE out the UNION? And aren't these workers in the UNION? I guess I'm Lost. Why would the Union Members Kick out the Union?

[newyawker99]

17. Hi Jammer!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Robbien]

5. Tyson feels their religious beliefs will keep their workers safe.

According to CorpWatch

The family-owned company is run by Chairman and CEO John Tyson, a devout Christian, whose grandfather started the company. Under the stewardship of the younger generation, Tyson Foods “Core Values” include striving to be “faith-friendly company” and “to honor God.” In its drive towards a union-free shop, the company implies that these imposed religious beliefs will keep their workers safe.

In a recent Tyson Press Release, for example, Pasco manager Ray McGaugh used somewhat biblical language to make the link, saying, “Tyson’s core values and code of conduct will continue to guide the company and its relationship with Team Members as we operate without a union.”

and on why the employees voted out the union:

The union’s presence at the plant was challenged last year, after a disgruntled worker, Carlos Perez, who had lost to Martinez in an election for leadership of the Teamsters local union, gathered signatures to force an election to decertify the union. (Martinez is a member of the reform group Teamsters for a Democratic Union, while Perez was backed by the Teamsters establishment.) Perez was subsequently promoted to supervisor by Tyson.

When workers at the plant voted last April on whether to continue having union representation at the Pasco facility, the pro-union side won out. Tyson management then claimed that union stewards improperly spoke to workers as they were waiting to vote. In December the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) insisted that a new vote be taken, despite the NLRB Hearing Officer’s findings that “certain electioneering did occur but…was not sufficient under third-party standards to overturn the election.”

This February the election was held again. This time the workers at the plant voted 690 to 586 to decertify the union. The plant manager McGaugh claimed this as a "vote of confidence in the company and our plant’s management staff.”

The union sees things differently and has filed an objection with the NLRB, claiming that Tyson “sabotaged the rights of employees and interfered with the election” in 22 violations of labor law. The objections include intimidating and coercing employees, offering or providing benefits to employees to induce them to vote against the union, passing out fraudulent campaign literature falsely attributed to the union, and providing workers with false information about voting times and locations.

“Tyson closed the plant for 6 or 7 weeks and paid people for 32 hours ”, says attorney David Rosenfeld, who is representing Local 556. “We’ve no objections to the workers being paid. But it’s not typical. It’s like a bribe so the workers would forget about everything else the company’s done. And this was just before the elections.” Tyson temporarily suspended production from January to February in several of its plants, owing to low demand for beef, the company claimed. The union also alleges that Tyson told workers that the length of the layoff was dependent on how they voted in the decertification election.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson disputes such charges, stating that the company acted within its rights. “While the decertification election was the result of a petition initiated by hourly workers, the law allows the company to take a position and communicate with our Team Members about the significance of their vote. We wanted to ensure they made an informed choice.”

According to union lawyer Rosenfeld, among the most egregious acts the company committed was enlisting the help of a local Pasco Spanish-language publication, called La Voz, to publish false statements that the Pasco plant would close and relocate if workers voted for the union. “The company supports with a lot of advertising,” says Rosenfeld. After the paper printed a piece about continued unionization leading to closure of the facility, “the company passed the article in and around the plant.”


http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12122

[LiberalFighter]

8. Where in their bibles are unions bad for their core-beliefs?

[Changenow]

12. These "Christians" who think

Christ's message was to fuck the poor because they deserve it kill me, and the fools who follow them.

[TahitiNut]

6. The Tri-Cities (or "Tri-Shitties") is horribly right-wing and fundy.

Of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland, Pasco is the Hispanic "ghetto" - as any realtor will be sure to inform an Anglo moving into the area.

[recycledindi]

7. mmmm

good clean food from now on. yum

[susanna]

11. I will now start my personal Tyson boycott,

just for kicks.

[roguevalley]

13. anyone who kicks out or blocks a union deserves the hell that is coming

[Bill ORights]

14. Boycott Tyson?--Right on! NT

[newyawker99]

18. Hi recycledindi!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[mitchum]

15. If I weren't already avoiding their tasteles hormone and chemical laden...

rubberized "food product", I would boycott these union-busting cocksuckers

[AFSCME girl]

19. And on it goes.....

more union-busting by followers of the * cabal....I totally agree with the sentiment that the workers will not realize the gravity of what they did 'til it's too late. x(

AFSCME girl ~ A very PROUD Union sister