Following 3-years of failed negotiations and threats to employees, Teamsters 'decisively' ousted

Earlier this week, employees of a California company “decisively” voted 269-175 to decertify the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinental.

After three years of representing employees at Threshold Enterprises in Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz and negotiating for a new contract, the Teamsters union was unable to muster support in ballots cast Monday and Tuesday to remain the workers’ bargaining agent.

Prior to the election, with free legal help from the National Right to Work Foundation, employees filed charges against the Teamsters for threatening employees who were against the unions.
According to a NRTW press release, “Threshold employee Hector Garcia states that union officials threatened to have workers fired for voting to remove the Teamsters.”

Garcia’s charges follow similar allegations leveled by his coworker, Enriqueta Morales, in September 2015. Morales also filed federal charges after Teamster officials threatened her job for gathering signatures for a petition to remove the union. Both Garcia and Morales’ charges contend that other employees have faced harassment and intimidation from Teamster operatives for opposing the union’s presence. [Emphasis added.]

That the union had represented employees for three years and failed to get a contract for them was illustrated back in October, when the Teamsters and its supporters went to a city council meeting to appeal for the council’s support.

@Teamsters 912 members who work at Threshold Enterprises take their contract fight to the Watsonville City Council! pic.twitter.com/8q8CaRam9M

— Doug Bloch (@TeamsterDoug) October 28, 2015

“We’re only three voices here before you tonight, but we represent 600 others,” Threshold employee Patricia Vasquez told the council. “We know Threshold Enterprises is growing fast and making a lot of money. We just want your support for a decent contract.”
Following the union’s election loss, once the election is certified by the National Labor Relations Board, no union can unionize the Threshold employees for a period of one year.
Image credit: Twitter.