Vote of Immigrant Workers Is Seen as Test for Unions

In what was seen as a significant test of organized labor’s ability to replenish sagging membership by signing up low-wage immigrant workers, more than 1,200 workers at an automobile wheel manufacturing company south of Compton cast votes late Thursday on whether to affiliate with the International Assn. of Machinists.

The gathering marked one of the largest union representation elections held in the United States this year, and was one of the biggest in the Los Angeles area in several years, National Labor Relations Board officials said.

The employees of American Racing Equipment Inc., most of them Mexican immigrants who make about $7 an hour, staged a wildcat strike last summer to protest what they said were unsafe and uncompensated demands for faster production.

The three-day walkout, which ended when management agreed to a wage increase, virtually shut down the production of aluminum wheels at the company’s main plant.

Longtime observers of organized labor in Southern California said a wildcat strike by a non-union work force at a large plant was highly unusual.

In the wake of the walkout, the machinists union assigned several full-time organizers to solicit worker interest in a union campaign. Workers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election. If the workers choose union representation, they still face the task of negotiating a labor contract with the company.

Officials at American Racing Equipment, owned by Toronto-based Noranda Corp., declined several requests for comment during the past week. The company operates three plants in Rancho Dominguez, a small industrial town.

During the 1980s the percentage of unionized workers in the private sector fell sharply because of plant closures and increased employer hostility to unions.

Part of that trend was seen in the low percentage of union victories at large companies.

While unions win representation elections at nearly half of all U.S. companies with less than 100 workers, they win only about one-third of the time at companies with 100 to 500 workers. The reason is often that larger companies tend to expend significant resources, hiring anti-union consultants and preparing videotapes for employees to watch before the vote.

The average union representation election involves fewer than 50 workers. Labor has been organizing fewer than 50,000 new workers each year in the private sector, while losing substantially more members because of plant closures and layoffs.