On May 14, workers at Merkle Korff, a factory producing sub-fractional electric motors, voted 41-32 to join UE. Together with the organizing win a few days later at Ferro Pfanstiehl in Waukegan, this brought nearly 120 new manufacturing workers into UE’s ranks in Greater Chicago.

Negotiations began on June 17, when the union presented the company with proposals that had been adopted by the members. High among workers’ priorities were demands for a strong union presence in the shop in order to protect workers. They are demanding a strong grievance procedure in which the company treats the stewards with respect; a union leave-of-absence clause so shop representatives can attend UE events and get the training they need; and a health and safety clause that gives the union power to make the plant safer.

Having suffered through bad union experiences in the past, Merkle Korff workers have seen this as a fight for a strong honest, democratic union that will truly represent them, and for compelling the company to respect workers and their union.

“This fight all along was focused on representation, and the company respecting people on the job,” says UE Field Organizer Leticia Prado Marquez, who extensively assisted the workers in their organizing campaign. UE worked with Merkle Korff employees for about a year leading up to the vote, and enlisted the support of several community organizations.

Describing the issues driving the campaign for a UE leaflet before the vote, Armando Morales said, “We have put up with many abuses and unfair treatment over the years. The company has never respected us, and now that we are joining UE, they are throwing us a few more nickels and dimes. They want us to forget about the years of unfair treatment. But we’re not organizing for the money. It’s for respect, dignity and basic human fairness.”