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Workers Rally Against Their Own Union

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Leading up to a forth vote to rid themselves of the United Auto Workers, employees at an Alabama plant rallied Monday against their own union.

In January, after the first two rounds of votes were dismissed, employees for NTN-Bower Corporation voted for a third time on whether to remove the United Auto Workers as their representative. After the UAW won the vote the National Labor Relations Board determined the results were invalid because the union manipulated the ballot in their favor.

“Even though 139 workers voted in the third election out of the 140 eligible, 148 ballots were cast,” the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said in a statement.

Ginger Estes, the employee who filed for the decertification election, says the rally today is the first of many leading up to the fourth election next week.

“I am the one they hate the most because I am trying to get rid of them,” Estes tells The Daily Caller News Foundation. “We have endured their intimidation.”

Estes notes that the conflict with the union goes back to 2007 when union members were protesting against NTN-Bower. At the time, the company replaced 60 of the protesting workers with new employees, like Estes, who decided to walk past the picket line.

“We were the ones who walked past the picket lines seven years ago,” Estes proudly declared.

After that the union became very violent and hostile towards Estes and the other employees who refused to join the protest. Union members shouted racial slurs against the Hispanic and black workers, damaged cars that tried to cross the picket line and though she was never able to prove it was the union, two of Estes’ dogs were poisoned and one went missing during the dispute.

“One of my supervisors mentioned my dog was missing,” Estes noted despite only telling a few close friends at the time. “Her brother at the time was the [local] UAW president.”

After the dispute, everything settled down for the most part. Estes and her fellow workers were able to get back to work. That was until the National Labor Relations Board forced the company to rehire the 60 protesting employees which allowed the union to influence the company once again.

In the hopes of ending the union’s influence once and for all, Estes filed for a decertification election in 2013, but after the first three attempts failed, they now have to vote for a fourth time. Though the union hasn’t been as violent and aggressive as it was years ago, it has still tried intimidating Estes and the other employees. In one recent incident, Estes found that her entire car had been keyed.

Estes also is greatly concerned over the impact the union has had on the company and fears if it continues, they may be driven out of business.

The NLRB has argued that the company has been acting unfairly towards the union. As they noted, “Two days before the second election, Plant Manager Rufus McMillan held a series of captive audience meetings, which were attended by the entire workforce.”

“The credited testimony of multiple witnesses establishes that during these meetings, McMillan repeatedly told employees that Hamilton was the Employer’s only unionized facility, that employees at the plant had not received a raise in over a year, and that employees at the Employer’s Macomb, Illinois facility made more money than they did,” the NLRB also noted. “The hearing officer found that McMillan’s comments constituted an implied promise of higher pay if employees decertified the Union.”

The UAW has represented employees at the NTN-Bower plant since 1976. The decertification petition was filed with the NLRB on May 22, 2013. The results of the fourth election will likely be announced on Feb. 20, 2015, the same day as the election.

TheDCNF was unable to reach the UAW for comment.

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