North Carolina Textile Pact Ends Nearly a Century of Labor Strife

The owner of six textile plants in Kannapolis, N.C., agreed Wednesday to recognize the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, putting an end to nearly a century of discord at a highly symbolic labor battleground.

The plants, owned by Dallas-based Pillowtex Corp., employ about 5,000 people who make sheets and other bedding. The union’s narrow victory, 2,270 to 2,102 in June’s balloting, was especially sweet for pro-labor forces because it occurred in the tough-to-organize textile sector and marked one of organized labor’s biggest manufacturing wins in a long time.

Both the union and management challenged the close vote in court. The union, called UNITE, argued that some management personnel had cast ballots. Pillowtex said that UNITE appeared to try to stack the voter rolls.

But Pillowtex Chairman and CEO Chuck Hansen and UNITE Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Raynor said in a joint news conference Wednesday that they had agreed to drop their legal challenges.

“It’s very important that we don’t have a divided work force,” Hansen said, adding that the close vote was spoiling friendships in town and potentially sapping morale at the plant.

Hansen said that Pillowtex and UNITE would begin the potentially arduous process of negotiating a contract on Dec. 1. Both sides declined to say what would be on the table, but individually employees said that they were concerned about their pensions and job security at a time of tremendous automation.