Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160046
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Charges of voting and campaign irregularities brought by both the company and the union have delayed the outcome of an organizing election at the Valleydale Foods Inc. plant in Salem.
On Sept. 1, employees at the Valleydale plant, a unit of Smithfield Foods Inc., voted 76-70 in favor of representation by Local 400 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The union formally challenged the legitimacy of six of the ballots and the company challenged one.
On Sept. 8, Valleydale filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board's Winston-Salem, N.C., office challenging the way the union had conducted its organizing campaign and the way the election itself was handled.
The union has responded with objections of its own, accusing the company of punishing some union sympathizers and trying to win over others through transfers and promotions.
"We've done our part to make sure we've gotten sufficient charges filed ourselves," said Gene Moser, vice president of Local 400.
Ron Yost, a labor board examiner, said Thursday that the Winston-Salem office has a heavy workload and it will be the end of this month or next month before the challenges and objections are resolved. The possible outcomes range from the board's overruling all the objections to its setting aside the election and ordering a new one. A hearing also may be required, he said.
The union and the company accused each other of trying to intimidate Valleydale workers during the organizing campaign, which began in February.
Besides vote fraud, Valleydale has accused the union of threatening workers with harm, intimidating them by visiting their homes and electioneering too close to the polling area, among other things.
The union's response included charges that the company gave privileges to union opponents that it didn't give to sympathizers and applied work rules to discriminate against union sympathizers. The union also said the company interrogated union supporters and punished anyone who talked in the plant in support of the union.
Local Valleydale officials referred questions about the union election to corporate headquarters in Smithfield, and officials there could not be reached for comment.
by CNB