Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Union Protests Firm’s Firing of Chief Steward
Representatives of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union Local 1421 picketed a bottle-making company Tuesday to protest the firing of the union’s chief steward at the plant.
Members of several other unions in Orange County also participated in the demonstration.
Marianne Hart, 45, said she was fired Dec. 29 by officials of Sonoco Products because she had protested excessive overtime and a requirement that employees attend company meetings not held on company time.
However, Hart, who is also vice president of the union’s District 10 office, said Sonoco officials called her Tuesday and “invited me to come back to work on Saturday.”
Paul Krehbiel, field organizer for Local 1421, said the pickets never were meant to disrupt the company’s business but rather “to let the general public know that Sonoco was not treating its employees fairly.”
Krehbiel said that the company’s 70 employees had been threatened with suspension if they did not attend company meetings.
Sonoco officials refused to comment Tuesday.
A meeting between company and union officials is scheduled for Friday.
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