By DAVID MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com
December 09, 2006 12:19 am
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JEFFERSONVILLE — Teamsters Local 89 is staying put at Jeffboat.
The company’s labor force of 900 or so union employees held a vote Thursday on whether or not to keep union certification.
Workers opted to retain union representation by a vote of 649 to 190, union officials said.
“We expected it,” said Fred Zuckerman, president of Teamsters Local 89. “We know the guys better than the company does.”
The vote comes amid accusations from pro-union forces at Jeffboat LLC that the company had engaged in union-breaking tactics. The company has been passing out anti-union propaganda to workers, having foremen wear anti-union buttons and shirts and anti-union flyers are being posted on company property, according to Teamsters officials.
Management at American Commercial Lines Inc., parent company to Jeffboat, confirmed the vote via a press release posted on its Web site just before 10 a.m.
“They’re the most anti-union company we represent,” Zuckerman said.
That particular union represents workers at more than 200 companies in the Louisville Metro area. Zuckerman said the company spent a lot of money to try and decertify the boatyard.
There were two flights of votes covering different shifts at the boatyard. Union employees gathered at the Knights of Columbus Hall across the street from Jeffboat following the vote. A petition requesting the decertification vote was circulated among Jeffboat employees earlier this year. In recent weeks, numerous attempts to reach the union member who started the petition were unsuccessful.
The Teamsters began representing Jeffboat in 1970, prior to that workers were represented by another union. This is the first time a decertification vote has taken place since the Teamsters began representing workers there.
All and all it’s been a good year financially for ACL, as the company is reporting record profits. In October, the company reported a 59 percent increase in third-quarter revenues. The company brought in $266.56 million in the three months that ended Sept. 30, up from $167.30 million in revenues in the comparable quarter of 2005. The company’s stock was up Thursday — closing at $74.35 after peaking at 74.81 per share.
That hasn’t been the only good news for Jeffboat this year.
Last summer the company announced the creation of around 1,000 new jobs — most of which are expected to be in Jeffboat’s mile-long boatyard on Jeffersonville’s waterfront.
Jeffboat’s union representation will likely make the news again this spring when contract negotiations begin.
Mark R. Holden, president and CEO ACL cited improvements at Jeffboat in the past couple of years.
“Tremendous progress has been made at the Jeffboat shipyard the last two years in safety, productivity and the work environment by working with our employees,” he said. “We look forward to continue working with our employees in pursuit of further improvements.”
The company had declined earlier comment about the decertification issue.
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