Van Nuys Firm Loses Appeal of UAW’s Victory in Workers’ Election
A bitter union-representation election among 1,300 employees of a Van Nuys manufacturer that led to a three-year battle before the National Labor Relations Board has resulted in a victory for the United Auto Workers, the NLRB announced Tuesday.
The board’s ruling could lead to immediate contract negotiations between Superior Industries, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of aluminum-wheel rims, and the union. Or the battle could move on to the courts, said Mike Feinberg, a lawyer for the union.
A Superior Industries spokesman declined detailed comment Tuesday.
In February, a company official said that, if Superior workers struck, the company could close the Van Nuys plant and shift production to other factories in Canada and Arkansas. Those plants have not so far been the target of union organizing efforts.
The campaign has been portrayed by union officials as an important test of their ability to organize low-income, Latin America-born workers, a particularly high priority for organized labor in Southern California.
In August, 1984, UAW Local 645 won in a 53% to 47% vote the right to represent Superior’s workers, many of whom are Mexican and Central American immigrants.
But the company filed 118 objections to the election process, touching off the three-year appeal.
Allegations of ‘Communist Leanings’
In May, 1985, a company official went so far as to say that Superior had asked the FBI to investigate the union. “We had heard the union was stockpiling weapons in Van Nuys for shipment to communist radicals in Central America,” said George Musson, director of personnel. “The employees working with the union to organize Superior are from Central America, and I would suspect they have communist leanings.”
Peter Z. Beltran, president of Local 645, denounced the charges as “patently false” and a sign of how hostile the company is to union representation.
The UAW also asserted that a number of pro-union workers were illegally fired during the campaign or just after the vote.
A lengthy hearing ensued on the company’s charges, followed by complaints by the union that the board was dragging its feet on the case.
In January, 1986, an NLRB hearing officer ruled that the conduct of the election had been acceptable and certified the UAW as the workers’ exclusive bargaining agent. The company appealed that ruling. Board members Donald L. Dotson, Wilford W. Johansen and Marshall B. Babson upheld the hearing officer’s decision in a ruling issued May 21 that arrived here by mail Tuesday, according to Sidney Rosen of the NLRB’s Westwood office.
Rosen said the Westwood office also has unfair-practice charges pending against the company for allegedly firing two workers illegally in connection with the election.
“We would hope the employer would fulfill its obligations under the National Labor Relations Act,” said union attorney Feinberg. “If not, we’ll be back before the NLRB.”
Musson said Tuesday that the company had not received a copy of the decision and could not comment in detail. “There are some legal alternatives we might want to explore,” he said in a telephone interview.
In February, Superior announced that 1986 profits were up 17% over the previous year, to $8.5 million. Sales increased 14%, to $149 million, over the same period.
Henry Gonzales, assistant regional director of the UAW, said he was “real pleased” with the decision.
Mark Masaoka, a member of Local 645 who has been assisting the Superior workers, said the NLRB’s action could lead “to a major step forward in efforts to organize non-union shops in the San Fernando Valley.”
Union officials and some workers at the plant have complained about wages and working conditions. A typical Superior worker receives about $14 an hour in combined wages and benefits, contrasted with about $25 an hour for GM’s union workers a few miles away.
This year, a number of Superior workers in Van Nuys have been working 55-hour weeks. The union charges that some employees have to work in excessively high temperatures in a company foundry. Superior retorts that its working conditions are satisfactory.
