BINGEN — Employees who work at the three Mount Adams Fruit packing houses voted against joining the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000 labor union on Nov. 14. Mt. Adams Fruit owns and operates three facilities in The Dallesport, Bingen and Odell. According to the National Labor Relations Board, a petition was filed on Sept. 6 by the UFCW to represent the employees at the Dallesport and Bingen locations.
According to the petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), “a substantial number of employees wish to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by Petitioner (UFCW) and Petitioner desires to be certified as representative of the employees.” The petition defines substantial as 30% — or more — of the employees wish to be represented.
The petition only listed the Bingen and Dallesport locations. Following a hearing on Sept. 28, it was deemed that employees at all three locations be included. The NLRB directed all full time and part time employees to be included in the vote.
There were 359 eligible voters, with 193 voting against the union and 135 voting to join the union.
According to case files available on the NLRB website and public records obtained by Columbia Gorge News, Mt. Adams Fruit stated that the “Odell facility’s employees must also be included in the unit in order for the petitioned-for unit to be appropriate.” The UFCW stated it would not be appropriate to include the Odell facility “based on a lack of community interest.”
The case files continued saying: “Specifically, the Petitioner (UFCW) argues that the method of compensation for employees at Odell is substantially different because Odell employs primarily pear packers that are compensated via a piece rate system.”
A hearing officer for the case concluded that due to the proximity between the facilities and overlap of employee duties all three were to be included in the vote.
“I conclude that the geographic proximity, skills and duties, terms and conditions of employment, interchange, functional integration, and centralized control of management weigh in favor of finding that all three locations — Bingen, Dallesport and Odell — share a distinct community of interest and that the appropriate geographic scope for this unit includes all three facilities,” said Region 19 Director Ronald Hooks.
Mt. Adams Fruit CEO Doug Gibson stated that as the largest employer they have always tried to uphold standards in the community.
“And we’ve had over 100-year history of not being unionized, a long-standing history about treating our employees first and making sure that we’re paying at the top of the market,” he said. “It has given our company an opportunity to reset and go forward with managers and employees working together.”
He believes navigating the union vote was a good chance for everyone to work together and grow.
“I think this is a really positive thing for our employees, for our growers, and for our community,” Gibson said. “It allows management and employees to work together.”
Representatives for the UFCW did not respond for comment.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.