KANNAPOLIS — It’s not over
yet, but union supporters are happier then they’ve ever been.After 25 years and four failed votes,
supporters of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) erupted
with cheers and chants Wednesday night at A.L. Brown High School after hearing the results
of the two-day unionization vote:
- 2,270 for the union.
- 2,102 against.
But as company officials hastily
pointed out, 285 additional, challenged votes may render this apparent victory hollow.
Fieldcrest Cannon workers who
voted in favor of unionizing six area plants Tuesday and Wednesday cheered “We won!
We won!” after National Labor Relations Board officials announced the election tally
at about 11 p.m.
Union spokesman Michael Zucker
called the election “the largest victory in the southern textile industry ever.”
An hour later, Chuck Hansen Jr.,
CEO of Pillowtex — the mill’s corporate owner — stood at the entrance to
the Fieldcrest Cannon headquarters and hinted at ultimate victory.
“We now get into the legal
process,” Hansen said, referring to the challenged votes he hopes will swing the
election in his favor.
Pillowtex and UNITE officials must
now meet with government agents to settle the challenged votes, according to Gary
Stiffler, the Labor Relations Board official who oversaw the election.
The matter may lead to litigation
if the two sides fail to settle the challenges, Stiffler said.
Although Stiffler did not comment
on how long addressing challenged votes may take, UNITE spokesman Zucker said it could be
a number of weeks. Hansen said it would take at least a few days to settle.
Before any Fieldcrest Cannon
employee cast a ballot on Tuesday or Wednesday, representatives for UNITE, Pillowtex and
the Labor Relations Board monitoring the polling locations had the opportunity to
challenge the vote. Votes could be challenged because an employee’s name was not on
the official list of workers, or if the company or the union felt that employee was
ineligible. Supervisors, for instance, weren’t allowed to vote.
This election marks the first time
a union vote at Fieldcrest Cannon was close enough that challenged votes could swing the
result.
Officials with both UNITE and
Pillowtex claimed the challenged votes eventually will work in their favor.
Addressing a crowd of company
supporters outside the mill headquarters off Main Street, Hansen tried to rally the group
with hugs, kisses and favorable predictions about the challenged votes. The closeness of
the vote proves the workers did not deliver a mandate to unionize, he said.
Though his comments elicited
cheers from his supporters, a few minutes earlier, Hansen didn’t seem quite so sure.
After he drove up, parked and approached the crowd, surrounded by family and friends,
Hansen acknowledged, “I’m a little upset. I don’t know what to say.”
Hansen, who planned to hold a
press conference this morning (See related article), said he wished the 500 workers who
did not vote would have. Those votes would have turned the election against UNITE, he
said.
“But I just want you all to
know one thing,” Hansen said. “This company is not going to die. We’ll
still make the best towels and the best sheets in the country.”
Hansen also made specific comments
about the challenged votes — something the Labor Board spokesman wouldn’t do.
Hansen reported that government
officials challenged only 70 of the 285 votes in question because the names of those
employees had been inadvertently omitted from the list of eligible voters.
Hansen said he hopes those
employees were “pro-company.”
UNITE organizers challenged the
remaining 205 votes, Hansen said.
“Why they objected — I
think you can figure it out,” Hansen said. “I know I can.”
David Anderson, a weaver
who’s worked for the mill for 28 years, served as an election monitor for the
company. After the vote count, Anderson said he suspects his union counterparts challenged
votes not because the person voting held a supervisory position but because their
anti-union stance was well known.
“Why would you challenge a
weaver? Why would you challenge a sweeper? They’ve got the right to vote just like
everybody else.”
Zucker, the UNITE spokesman,
acknowledged that most of the vote challenges came from the union. But these challenges
are valid, he said.
The union representatives
monitoring the election “know who their supervisors are, they know who eligible
voters are,” Zucker said. “These challenges will be sustained, and the union
will be certified and start representing them every day, helping them build their
union.”
Despite the challenged votes,
UNITE organizers “will begin talking to people right away” about their goals for
negotiation, he said.
UNITE lost Fieldcrest Cannon
elections in 1974, 1984, 1991 and 1997.
The 1997 election, held shortly
before Pillowtex bought the company, served as a court-ordered rematch. Union officials
complained to the Labor Relations Board that plant supervisors intimidated workers through
surveillance and other means during the 1991 campaign.
Following the 1997 vote, during
which workers rejected the union by fewer than 400 votes, a hearing officer listened to
weeks of testimony and concluded that some supervisors at the plants again intimidated
workers illegally. The Labor Relations Board agreed and ordered another election.
In April, UNITE and Pillowtex also
settled a number of unfair labor practice complaints stemming from the 1997 election.
In setting up this week’s
election, the board spelled out several “special remedies,” one of which allowed
union organizers to meet with workers in the plants.
These special remedies were set to
expire July 1. The Labor Relations Board scheduled this week’s election about 2 1/2
weeks ago.
Pillowtex bought Fieldcrest Cannon
shortly after the 1997 election. Both sides agree that relations between union supporters
and management have improved under Pillowtex ownership.
UNITE contracts already cover
about 4,000 Pillowtex employees in other plants around the country.
Last year, Pillowtex announced
plans to invest more than $100 million in its Cabarrus County operations — more than
$80 million in new equipment for Plant 1 in Kannapolis alone.
Zucker claims the addition of
modern equipment to the mills has left many “old hands” feeling insecure.
Unionization guarantees workers certain rights — such as automatic consideration for
another position if new equipment eliminates their job — during periods of great
change, he said.
Tim Cox, a loom fixer who’s
worked for the mill for 20 years, disagrees.
“Most people won’t even
join the thing,” he said while waiting for Hansen to show up at company headquarters.
“They don’t want to give up $5 of their pay” for weekly union dues.
“People are tight around
here.”
Cox also said reports about poor
working conditions have been exaggerated. “It ain’t like they crack the whip on
you all the time.” |
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