| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2002 |
|
|
Nebraska Beef Workers Win Right to New Union Election Workers at Nebraska Beef in Omaha have cause to celebrate the New Year. A Hearing Officer of the National Labor Relations Board recommended overturning the results from the August 16, 2001 vote in which workers faced a vicious anti-union campaign by company management. Workers lost the narrow election for representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 271 last summer. Community members rallied with workers to call on the company to hold a clean and fair election. Despite efforts by religious and community leaders to encourage a fair election process, their pleas fell on deaf ears. Nebraska Beef workers faced a barrage of illegal anti-union actions by the company in the final days of the campaign. Nebraska Beef waged an aggressive program to intimidate, coerce and harass employees from standing up for a voice on the job. The Labor Board official cited the following actions as cause to overturn the results of the election:
The company earlier had to pay back wages in settlement of charges filed by UFCW Local 271 for illegally firing three employees who protested unsafe working conditions. A fourth case involving a worker fired in the same incident is set for a trial in late January, 2002. Nebraska Beef workers will have the opportunity to hold another union election. Community and religious leaders, working through Omaha Together/One Community, will be watching closely to make sure worker rights are protected. United Food and Commercial Workers Union: A Voice for Working America, www.ufcw.org |
|
 |
 |
