Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303130027
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MEDECO SPURNS UNION
Medeco Security Locks of Salem turned back a union organizing threat Friday in a National Labor Relations Board election.In the first union representation election in the 25-year history of the plant, the vote was 184 against and 133 in favor of the International Union of Electronic Workers.
Medeco workers cheered when they heard the results, according to Chris Christensen, the company's human resources director.
But a union organizer said the IUE "really feels good" about its support in the plant's first election. The union plans to come back next year with another campaign, said Charles Van Dellen, secretary-treasurer of the union's District 1. "The pressures won't be as great" in 1994, he said.
Medeco President Tim Layton said he continues to believe the work force is better off without third-party representation. The union election "has been a learning process for all of us. Our priority is to start the healing process of working together once again."
Layton said the company will work with employees `to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation."
He encouraged union supporters and opponents in a statement "to put aside their differences and work together to meet the challenges of growth" faced by the company.
While the plant has invested millions of dollars in new production methods and technologies, he said, "one of our major mistakes was that we were not as effective in involving and training our people as we should have been."
Van Dellen said the union "can be a major factor in helping them [Medeco] achieve their goals in a spirit of cooperation." The company will have "either open season on our people or management can start Medeco president Tim Layton encouraged union supporters and opponents "to put aside their differences and work together to meet the challenges of growth" faced by the company. treating them with dignity and respect," he said.
The balloting capped months of intense campaigning and personal contacts by IUE organizers, supported by the union's membership at the nearby Salem General Electric plant.
The company worked hard to keep the union out. Movies of strikes and many statements about union activities were presented at employee meetings. The IUE claimed company comments were distorted; Medeco said its information was documented.
Clinton Morse, a company lawyer, called the election was "a big win" and credited a supervisory committee with giving information to employees.
Morse, who has long represented companies in labor issues, said typically a third of a work force will support a company and another third will back the union, with elections often decided by the uncommitted remaining third. "We got 30 percent and they got 10 percent" of the uncommitted numbers, he said.
However, Van Dellen said the IUE made a good showing against "the pressures the company put on them [employees] and the onslaught of an anti-labor law firm." The union told supporters "to hold your heads high, do your job and have no confrontation," he said.
The company is a unit of Hillenbrand Industries of Batesville, Ind.