Organizers with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees say they
won’t know until next Wednesday who will sit on a committee that will negotiate a
contract with Pillowtex executives.Some of
the employees at the company’s Salisbury, China Grove and Rockwell plants won’t
get to vote until next Tuesday and Wednesday, UNITE spokesman Ernest Bennett said.
Union officials decided to delay voting for
workers in departments that are down this week. Many workers live in rural parts of Rowan
and Cabarrus counties and may not have gotten to vote otherwise, Bennett said.
Tuesday, Bennett also said union officials have
changed the location where the 68-member committee will try to negotiate a contract with
Pillowtex executives. The meeting will take place in Kannapolis Dec. 6-7 because of its
central location.
The committee will represent some 5,000 employees
at the six Pillowtex plants in Rowan and Cabarrus counties and 3,000 others at the
company’s already unionized plants in Eden, Fieldale, Va., Columbus, Ga. and Phenix
City, Ala.
Reached at his office in Dallas, Pillowtex CEO
Chuck Hansen said he will not attend the meeting in Kannapolis. The company will probably
have attorneys and human resources staff present, he said.
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