Workers at a Chicago-area pharmaceutical factory here voted more than two-to-one for UE as their bargaining representative in a National Labor Relations Board election conducted over two days, May 22 and 23.
The victory came at the unorganized Ferro Pfanstiehl plant in Waukegan. The vote was 25-12. It was the second attempt at unionization at the factory, where workers narrowly rejected UE representation two years ago.
UE’s three national officers – President John Hovis, Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple and Director of Organization Bob Kingsley – have sent solidarity greetings to Bob McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union as ILWU members prepare to shut down all of the West Coast ports on May Day to protest Bush’s war policies.
Two global union federations and more than 40 labor organizations in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. representing several million workers, have jointly filed a charge against the United States, under the North American Agreement for Labor Cooperation (NAALC), the labor side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (List of participating organizations below.)
Workers at Hishi Plastics have won their long fight for a first UE contract. Their UE bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with the company on Wednesday, March 19, and today the members voted 20 to 7 to ratify it.
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