The process to decertify the union affiliated with Columbus” Omnova plant is moving forward. And members of Local 748-L plan to fight the decertification until the end. Union members plan to contest plans to take a decertification vote from the more than 100 workers hired to replace them.
Workers filed a petition on May 10 with the National Labor Relations Board to take a vote on whether or not they wanted to be represented by the union. It would take a majority vote to decertify the union. For the matter to go straight to an election, Omnova, the current workers and the union would have to agree to take the vote. Otherwise, the issue will be taken up at a NLRB hearing.
Monday, the NLRB sent out notice of a hearing set for May 24, in Columbus, to address issues surrounding the rift between Omnova Solutions Inc. and the local union. While the hearing could delay the election, it likely will not stop it, said Joseph Artiles, resident officer for the NLRB.
“We try to set up an election within six weeks. If we have to have a hearing, it will take little longer,” Artiles said.
While Omnova supports the workers” decision to take a decertification vote, union membership opposes the election,
“We”ll certainly protest everything about it,” said Jay Lawrence, president of the local union.
“The company fully supports the right of our employees to vote on this issue, and has communicated its position to the NLRB,” Omnova spokeswoman Sandi Noah said, also noting the plant has continued to run without interruption or issue during the strike.
“The permanent replacement employees came up to speed quickly with the assistance of salaried employees at the plant,” she said. “This enabled us to meet all deadlines and maintain solid productivity at the plant.”
The Columbus plant is Omnova”s primary plant for commercial wall coverings and performance fabrics.
Despite positive reports from Omnova, Lawrence said the company has lost productivity and customers.
“We know the plant is down about 20 to 25 percent production from where it was when we were there,” said Lawrence adding the plant is “sending out poor quality products.”
In negotiations, union leaders asked for the same basic contract in place for the past 30 years, without any pay raises.
“Gas, utilities, everything you have to pay for is going up, and we were willing to stay where we were … for three years,” Lawrence said.
But to remain competitive, Omnova needed to make changes to the contract, Noah has said.
Until May 24, the NLRB will attempt to get all parties to agree to an election.
“We”re trying to see if we can get an agreement among the parties to vote on whether or not they want to be represented by the union,” Artiles said. “In between now and that date, we”ll continue to try and get an election agreement.”
Even if a decertification vote is taken, Lawrence said the union members will continue to man the gates at Omnova in protest to a move he believes was an intentional attempt to cause a strike and get rid of the union.
“We didn”t choose this, and we didn”t want this to happen,” Lawrence said.
Through hard work, long hours and weekends, the union workers have “built the plant,” even in “the early days” when “wages weren”t feasible” and “the work wasn”t feasible.”
While community members have voiced concerns the Columbus operation could close or move operations overseas, Noah the facility “is primarily devoted to the U.S. commercial wall covering market.”
“This is a domestic business and our competitors are located in the U.S.,” she said. “Due to design preferences and delivery requirements, there is very little imported commercial wall covering. The commercial construction market into which we sell this product is still going through a difficult period. Our focus all along has been to make our business more competitive.”
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