Oregon to Georgia—America’s Workers Sign on with Unions

by Mike Hall, Mar 30, 2006

Military contract workers in Georgia, state workers in New Jersey, auto technicians in Michigan and bakery workers in Oregon all won a union voice on the job in recent organizing victories.

Holding down the fort….At Fort Benning, Ga., 230 workers employed by ITT, a contractor at the U.S. Army base, voted to join the Columbus (Ga.) Metal Trades Council. Eighty small arms repair technicians are new members of the Machinists, while the remaining skilled trades workers are now members of the Electrical Workers, Operating Engineers and Sheet Metal Workers.

Majority sign-up law pays off….In New Jersey, 129 workers at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency chose to join the Communications Workers of America under the state’s majority sign-up law that unions mobilized to win last year. The law allows workers to win a union voice when a majority signs authorization cards. It applies to public employees and some in the private sector not covered by the National Labor Relations Act.

Take the car to a union shop….Thirty-five workers at Royal Oak Ford, a major auto dealership in the Detroit area voted to join the UAW. The workers are technicians, service and parts and body shop workers and porters.

A bakers’ dozen….Meanwhile, a dozen workers at Richmond Baking in McMinnville, Ore., voted to join Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers.

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