NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | October 21, 2016 | PAGE 7
UNION ORGANIZING
Jeld-Wen workers reject chance to go union
Workers at a Jeld-Wen door
manufacturing plant in Chilo-
quin, Oregon, said no to the Ma-
chinists union in a 137-to-52
vote Sept. 21. It was the first-
ever union election at the door
factory, located in Klamath
County, 45 minutes north of the
California border on Highway
97. It was also the first time Jeld-
Wen workers have voted on
union representation since Feb-
ruary 2013, when the Machinists
announced a long-term effort to
unionize the overwhelmingly
non-union company.
Oregonians may know Jeld-
Wen as the Oregon-based door
and window company that Dick
Wendt founded in 1960 in Kla-
math Falls. But after Wendt died
in 2010, his heirs sold a majority
stake in the company to Toronto
private equity firm Onex, and
the company shifted its head-
quarters to Charlotte, North Car-
olina. Today, Jeld-Wen has an-
nual revenues of $3.5 billion
and is one of the world’s largest
manufacturers of doors and win-
dows — with approximately
20,000 employees and 113 man-
ufacturing facilities in 25 coun-
tries. On June 1, Jeld-Wen filed
preliminary paperwork to go
public with an initial public of-
fering on the New York Stock
Exchange. Details are still being
worked out, and the company is
also reportedly exploring a sale
to a private party.
Meanwhile, in tiny Chilo-
quin, population 724, the union
campaign was conducted by the
workers themselves. To help,
the Machinists assigned Jake
Merkel, a Raymond, Washing-
ton, resident who works for the
national union as an apprentice
organizer.
Merkel found the Chiloquin
plant to be a high-turnover in-
dustrial workplace where pay
starts at $11 an hour and tops out
about $20, with most workers
making about $14.50. Merkel
says workers told of poor treat-
ment, expensive health benefits,
and short-notice requirements to
work overtime.
When the union asked the
National Labor Relations Board
on Aug. 24 to schedule a union
election, Merkel says 65 percent
of the workforce had signed pa-
pers saying they wanted to join
the union. Then came the em-
ployer anti-union campaign.
“We were always confident
that once employees learned the
facts about what the union mem-
bership would mean to them and
their families, they would reject
bringing a third party into the
employment relationship,” said
Jeld-Wen’s in-house labor attor-
ney Eric Martin in a company
news release quoted in the Kla-
math Falls Herald and News.
Jeld-Wen itself had no
qualms about using third parties.
In legal proceedings before the
National Labor Relations
Board, it was represented by at-
torney Victor Kishch of Stoel
Rives. It also hired California-
based union avoidance consult-
ants Cruz and Associates to talk
to its workers. Jeld-Wen previ-
ously paid $1.66 million to Cruz
and Associates for work at 36
worksites over a six-month pe-
riod in 2013 — just after the
Machinists announced the for-
mation of Justice for Jeld-Wen
Workers. That’s according to
mandatory disclosures the com-
pany filed with the U.S. Labor
Department; disclosures of
more recent payments aren’t
available yet.
In the weeks leading up to the
union vote, Merkel says Cruz
and Associates led daily anti-
union meetings at the plant.
Jeld-Wen also gave raises and
got rid of mandatory overtime.
When the election was held,
Machinists had just 28 percent
support.
“We’re not done with Chilo-
quin, just because we lost,”
Merkel said. Union supporters
continue to work at the plant,
and if conditions change, they
could try again to find majority
support.
Union-
made
Halloween
treats
If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks,
make sure all your candy is union-made in America. The
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s resource site,
Labor 411, has an extensive list of union-made candies.
Here are some highlights, featuring sweets made by the
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
and the United Food and Commercial Workers:
5th Avenue, Abba-Zaba, Almond Roca, Baby Ruth,
Big Hunk, Bit-O-Honey, Butterfinger, Cadbury,
Candy House Buttons, Caramello, Clark Bar, Dum
Dums, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Gimbal’s Fine Candies,
Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Hugs, Hershey’s
Nuggets, Jawbreakers, Jelly Belly, Kit Kat, Laffy
Taffy, LOOK!, Mallo Cups, Malted Milk Balls, Mary
Jane, Mighty Malts, Necco Wafers, Red Vines, Rocky
Road, Rolo, Russell Stover, See’s Candies, Sky Bar,
Smarties, Snaps, Sour Patch Kids, Sour Punch, Super
Ropes, Toblerone, Tootsie Rolls, Trolli, U-NO, York
Peppermint Patties, and Zagnut.
Boycott Note: Until a Bakers Union strike is resolved,
don’t purchase Just Born candies. Products include Marsh-
mallow Peeps, Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales, and Golden-
berg’s Peanut Chews.
Rep. Carla Piluso believes in Doing the Best for
Gresham. That’s why, she’s endorsed by….
• The Gresham Outlook • The Willamette Week • Oregon AFL-CIO
• Oregon Working Families Party •Oregon Education Association
• SEIU Locals 49 & 503 •Oregon Public Retirees
•Teamsters Joint Council No. 37 • Oregon AFSCME Council 75
• National Electrical Contractors Association
• Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO
• Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council
• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555
Vote Carla Piluso for State Representative, House District 50!