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April 24, 2006
Management at The New Piper Aircraft Inc. in Vero Beach is guarded about the company's plans following last month's vote by workers to disband their union.
The 401-307 vote by unionized New Piper employees ousted the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union had represented most of the workers at the plant, which makes small airplanes.
"During the next few weeks, the Piper leadership team will be meeting to consider the impact of the election on our business and to determine what action should be taken in response to this vote of confidence," New Piper spokesman Mark Miller said in a statement.
When asked to clarify what management is considering, Miller said: "We're not at a point to talk about that. We'll talk in about a month what the steps will be."
About 1,000 people work at the plant, Miller said.
The vote ended the union's tumultuous three-year stint at New Piper, which included the union filing complaints against the company, charging it with interfering with workers' rights to organize.
The complaints claimed the company enforced solicitation rules against union supporters; interrogated employees about their union support; threatened those who supported the union; and promised benefits to those who stopped supporting the union.
The case was settled before the National Labor Relations Board, with New Piper agreeing to post notices at the plant, informing workers of their rights to organize, and pledging that the company will not interfere with union activities. The NLRB is a federal agency charged with conducting elections for union representation, and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices.
Bob Wood, a spokesman at the Machinists union's headquarters for the South in Dallas, said New Piper employees originally contacted the union after the company cut their pay and benefits several years ago.
The union was not able to negotiate pay raises for employees, but secured a seniority system, the ability of file grievances and gave workers "a voice on the shop floor," he said.
Since the decertification vote, Wood said he learned the company gave workers a 4 percent pay raise, and several workers have been fired. Without the union, the company can fire people without the process for grievances and review that existed with the union, he said.
Wood also claimed New Piper hired a number of workers to "dilute the bargaining unit" before the vote, and wonders whether there will be layoffs now that the NLRB has approved the vote.
Miller declined to comment on Wood's claim that employees were given pay raises and some were fired since the vote.
Miller said New Piper has been hiring workers to increase staffing, due to layoffs after the hurricanes in the past two years, which damaged the plant and interrupted business.
But he said the hiring was not done to affect the vote.
"We believe (the vote) is a clear signal that employees are placing their trust in our new leadership team," Miller said in a statement. "However, that also places a tremendous responsibility in our leadership to work tirelessly to improve the business and secure the future for our employees."
Wood questioned whether the NLRB should have allowed the March 15 vote to decertify the union, in light of the settlement in favor of its complaints.
"It's a case where we do not feel this was a fair vote. This is not a level playing field," Wood said. The company is "downplaying the fact that it was fighting us all the way" in getting a union contract for workers.
Miller questioned why the union did not challenge the vote with the NLRB if it thought the results were not fair.
Wood said union officials did not challenge the vote because they didn't think the union would get a favorable ruling.
"Most of the things coming out of the NLRB aren't in unions' favor because of the kinds of people being appointed to the boards" that run the agency, Wood said. "That's the problem. It's very pro-business. These are just the issues we continually grapple with."
Karen LaMartin, the NLRB's assistant regional director in Tampa, where the New Piper case was handled, said, in such labor disputes, "usually, one side or another won't agree with us. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. We feel we do thorough and impartial investigations, based on the facts of a case and the law."
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