For the second time in three years, workers at the Onan Cummins generator plant have rejected a union organizing effort. On Wednesday, workers voted 370-333 against joining the United Auto Workers, according to figures from the National Labor Relations Board's Minneapolis office.
In 1997 - a year when employees endured a 20 percent cut in pay and benefits while the company CEO received a $4 million bonus - workers voted down representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 341-201.
The election - the largest in Minnesota in recent years - came in the wake of vigorous efforts by Onan and its parent company, Cummins Engine, to defeat the union effort. Organizers for the UAW and AFL-CIO said that, in the month before the election, management held captive-audience meetings with the 731 eligible employees twice a week. 'They were willing to shut production down for two or three hours a day,' said Finnian Mulloy, a rank-and-file member of UAW Local 879 who volunteered to help the organizing drive. Local 879 represents workers at Ford's Twin Cities assembly plant in St. Paul.
In addition, organizers said, plant and corporate representatives walked the floor daily to talk with employees individually, performed surveillance on and intimidated employees participating in organizing efforts, and promised to resolve key issues behind the unionization effort.
Nonetheless, on the day of the vote, core organizers in the plant expressed optimism. They were joined by scores of union supporters - from throughout the Twin Cities and as far away as Rochester - who traveled to Fridley and stood in sub-freezing temperatures at plant entrances during all three shift changes to encourage workers to vote 'yes.'
'These anti-union firms are really good,' said Rob McKenzie, president of Local 879. 'I don't know how they do it or what they offer people, but they know where the votes are and know how to swing them.' Onan workers first contacted the UAW through Local 879's Web site, looking for organizing help, McKenzie said.
Injured workers punished
Issues behind the organizing drive included a simmering dispute over pension payments and worker dissatisfaction with company attendance policies.
Organizers said workers routinely receive 'black marks' for taking time off for bereavement or medical reasons, even if they are entitled to the time or receive permission from supervisors. Those 'black marks' are entered in employees' files and have affected promotions and pay raises, organizers said.
In two extreme cases, organizers said, a worker who suffered a heart attack on the job and another who received a gaping head wound on the job received black marks for their absences.
Workers list losses
Pension payments also are a significant concern, organizers said. Workers have challenged in court Cummins' method of calculating pensions, and tell of one worker who retired after 38 years, only to receive $109 a month in pension, instead of the $700 that had been projected.
In an organizing newsletter, workers listed more than two dozen benefits and perks that Cummins has taken away in recent years. They ran the spectrum from lost holidays and lower vacation accrual to elimination of free lemonade on hot days and a general loss of trust in the company.
'It was like a family,' one worker wrote. 'We all took care of each other and we all worked together. It is so different now!'
Other workers who actively opposed unionization three years ago said they supported the effort this time, citing management's failure to live up to promises made in asking for 'a second chance.'
This article was written for the Nov. 22 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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