KANNAPOLIS — The screaming and shouting that erupted from the crowd was loud and
fierce.Car horns blared,
and police directed the slow-moving traffic.
People hurried across the street
to join in the festivities. Others dashed in the opposite direction.
Those driving past A. L. Brown
High School in late Wednesday night might have thought there was a tailgate party for a
victorious football team had school still been in session.
“Did you win? Did you
win?” one excited bystander shouted at a group of men who pushed their way through
the crowd towards the parking lot.
“It’s not over
yet,” said one over his shoulder.
But the hasty departure of
Fieldcrest Cannon officials was enough to spark a celebration for the crowd eagerly
awaiting the results of the latest attempt to bring a union to Fieldcrest Cannon’s
plants in Cabarrus and Rowan counties.
Union supporters and organizers
moved around the sidewalk in a frenzy. By 11 p.m., rumors of a union victory spread
rapidly through the crowd.
“Somebody came out and said
that the union was ahead in votes, so everyone got excited,’’ said Mary C.
Dales, “but that wasn’t the official count.” She has been employed at
Fieldcrest for 22 years and is excited about the prospect of unionization. “We will
get better benefits, better pay and a better working environment if we succeeded tonight,
and let me tell you, it’s been an uphill battle the whole way.”
The Union of Needletrades,
Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) has fought to unionize Fieldcrest Cannon for 25
years. At about 11:05 p.m., federal officials announced that the union — at least for
now — is ahead.
Ernest Bennett, a UNITE official,
stepped in front of a hushed crowd and read the voting results; 2,270 for UNITE and 2,102
against. The crowd began to cheer again.
“And,” he said,
attempting to quiet the crowd, “285 challenged votes.”
Challenged votes, UNITE spokesman
Michael Zucker explained, were cases in which either Pillowtex, the Dallas-based owner of
Fieldcrest Cannon, the union or the Federal Labor Relations Board question the right of an
employee to vote in the election.
While the 285 challenged votes are
enough to throw the election in Pillowtex’s favor, Zucker is confident that those
votes will only increase the union’s victory margin.
“This has been 25 years in
the making and I am not in the least bit concerned about those challenged votes because I
think they will be in our favor,” Zucker said. “I was here in 1991 and 1997 for
those elections so I know what a victory this is for so many of the workers, and I am
excited to be a part of it.”
The matter of challenged votes was
quickly dismissed by most union supporters as they embraced and congratulated one another.
UNITE officials shook hands with supporters, while some excited voters shouted thanks to
God .
“This is the answer to many
of our prayers, and I am glad that it is finally a reality,” said Veronica Phillips,
an employee at Fieldcrest for nearly 18 years. “This will give the plants an
opportunity to pull together and work towards the same goals of better wages, better
benefits and better working conditions.”
The number of Pillowtex supporters
and officials quickly dwindled as photographers and cameramen descended on the crowd. They
were silent, but their T-shirts that said “Proud to be Pillowtex,” “Vote
No” and their bright orange pins that read “No Union” spoke for them.
Most Pillowtex supporters
retreated to the Fieldcrest Cannon headquarters parking lot about three blocks away from
the UNITE celebration. The group gathered in front of the headquarters was more somber.
They talked softly about the challenged votes and their fears of unionization.
Edna Dease has worked at
Fieldcrest Cannon for 22 years and said the union has nothing new to offer her.
“I hope the company ends out
coming on top in this one because I don’t want to see this place unionized,”
Dease said. “UNITE isn’t offering us anything that Fieldcrest doesn’t
already give us, and I think all they really want is our money.”
Many of those in favor of
unionization, though, said that dues in exchange for better benefits is a good trade.
“It’s about time we won
this thing because we have really crappy insurance benefits through Fieldcrest,” said
six-year Fieldcrest employee Charles Treece. “If paying dues means I get better
health insurance, then that is OK with me.”
Pillowtex CEO Chuck Hansen Jr.
arrived at the headquarters shortly after midnight to talk with his “loyal and
loving” employees.
Hansen talked about maintaining
the quality of products at Fieldcrest and how important it was for him to see such strong
support from his workers.
Many encouraged him and suggested
that the challenged votes may make a difference.
“We still got it,” one
woman shouted to Hansen.
“This isn’t the end of
it,” another supporter said.
Hansen shook hands and hugged the
workers.
“I love all of you for coming
out and showing your support,” Hansen said. “They’re right that this is a
big deal, and it means another paragraph will be written in the history books. But the
real history isn’t what’s in those books, it’s what’s in your
hearts.”
Back at A.L. Brown, 30-year
Fieldcrest Cannon employee Sheila Deal was brought to tears by what she considers a UNITE
victory.
“I’m not worried about
those challenged votes at all, and I don’t think we will have any problems now
because we worked so hard to get this,” Deal said. “We will finally have a say
in what we need and want. It’s not an overnight miracle, but it is going to get
better now, a little bit at a time.” |
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