Pensacola, FL, June 15--For the second time in three years, Solutia Inc. employees on Friday night soundly defeated a vote that would have unionized one of the area's largest industrial employers, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The outcome was 459 against to 190 in favor of joining United Steelworkers of America. In 2002, 549 employees voted against joining International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 676, while 222 voted in favor.
About 650 of about 700 eligible employees participated in the vote.
Despite the small turnout at a pro-union rally Wednesday, Reagan L. McDaniel, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was sure employees would vote in favor of the union. Even though his union wasn't involved, he attended Wednesday's rally to encourage workers not to be scared of voting yes.
"I just felt that they would because the employees this time were pretty aware of what's going on, especially after the first campaign," he said. "But it looks like the company won out again because the people are afraid of going union. It's unfortunate. That's two losses in a row now."
With the union vote defeated, Solutia can push ahead with a plan announced Tuesday to reorganize the company and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy status later this year. The company, which has about 6,700 employees worldwide, filed for the status Dec. 17, 2003, to obtain relief from liabilities Solutia was required to assume when the company spun off from the former Monsanto Co.
The plan, an agreement-in-principle with Monsanto and the Official Committee for Unsecured Creditors, provides relief from the company's historic liabilities, including retiree benefits, environmental remediation and litigation, said Dan Jenkins, director of communications and public affairs for Solutia.
"With the vote outcome, I think that people are recognizing that we have strong new leadership at Solutia," he said. "They are seeing that this reorganization is making a lot of progress, and there is a very strong, viable future for the company."
In January, a group of Solutia employees turned to United Steelworkers of America for help with concerns ranging from lost pension and wages to decreased health care benefits, said Rick Massengill, the union's affiliations coordinator. The agreement-in-principle will do nothing to address those employee concerns, he said, nor were complete details of the restructuring plan available before the union vote.
"I think when they release the rest of the business plan then employees will really see what they have in store for them," Massengill said. "I was pretty confident that they would go union, but the company scared people away from that."
"With the vote outcome, I think that people are recognizing that we have strong new leadership at Solutia."
