Vans Denies Charges of Unfair Tactics Against Union : Labor: Complaint alleges the company threatened workers, improperly influenced employees to vote against organizing bid.

Shoe manufacturer Vans Inc. said Monday it has filed a formal denial of unfair labor practices alleged earlier this month by the National Labor Relations Board.

The board’s Nov. 10 complaint seeks to invalidate the results of a union organizing election held at the Vans manufacturing plant in Orange in April, when workers voted 718 to 432 to reject the Teamsters’ bid to represent them as a collective bargaining agent.

A hearing has been scheduled for May 1 in Los Angeles before an administrative law judge.

The union filed a complaint after the election alleging, among other things, that Vans officials had threatened workers and improperly influenced employees to vote against the union by instituting a pay raise a month before the election.

While the NLRB dismissed a number of the union’s allegations, it issued its own complaint earlier this month attributing a long list of offenses to officers, managers and supervisors at the 28-year-old company, which makes and sells casual shoes.

According to the complaint, pro-union workers were placed under surveillance; workers were ordered to remove pro-union lapel buttons; at least one pro-union worker was threatened with bodily harm; some workers were told that they would lose their jobs if the union won the election; and workers were told that Vans would move its manufacturing plant to Mexico or Ohio if the union won.

Vans officials called the allegations groundless when they were first made and repeated that blanket denial Monday.

“The NLRB has already dismissed many of the original charges as being without merit. The company believes that the remaining allegations are also meritless,” said Craig E. Gosselin, Vans’ chief counsel and vice president.

Teamsters Union Local 396, based in Anaheim, campaigned for several months to organize Vans workers, who are paid an average of $5.75 an hour. A central issue in the union campaign was that Vans workers could not afford to make the required co-payments for a company-sponsored health insurance plan.

Union officials could not be reached Monday for comment.

Although allegations of unfair labor practices are not uncommon, many are dismissed as unwarranted, said Theodore B. Horn, assistant to the labor board’s regional director. He said that, when an official complaint is issued, as in the Vans case, the board prevails in 80% to 90% of the cases.