R.J. Reynolds Workers Refuse Union Representation

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s employees refused union representation for the third time in 6 years. However, receiving 45% of the vote could motivate union supporters to think that the fourth time could be the charm as early as autumn 2012. With about 94% of 1300 employees participating, Reynolds reported that 700 voted against and 600 for representation. If unions want to win they should receive a majority of the votes offered by the Tobaccoville and Whitaker Park employees and then the National Labor Relations Board will certify the.

“Reynolds had to spend more money on information and consultants this year, however the percentage of union supporters increased,” declared John Price, representative for the bakery union. “We are glad that our employees believe that we can proceed to develop our business by operating together as team,” Tommy Hickman, Reynolds’ senior vice president of operations said in an interview. “Our qualification to act quickly continues to separate us from our competitors, and today’s vote helps us retain that advantage in the future,” he said.

Price stated that the main worker concern was the dismission of 23 employees this year, a lot of whom have many years of practice. Reynolds representative Maura Payne stated that employees were dismissed for infringing company policies. Price declared that Reynolds prefers to maintain salaries at approximately the rate paid to workers at Lorillard Inc. and Philip Morris USA in order to make unions less attractive to employees. Payne declared that mean salary and bonus constitutes $70,195 for suitable employees.

According to data, since 2009, about 445 employees have received voluntary-departure offers from Reynolds. The company’s main reason for the staff reduction are the continuing decrease in demand for tobacco products nationwide and increased efficiency profits from consolidating production at Whitaker Park into Tobaccoville. “They declare that they want to do everything in order to preserve their full-time work, but Reynolds increases the number of contract workers in order to pay lower salaries,” Price stated.

“All of us want to work at a prosperous company; I suppose workers have realized what they put at risk. Reynolds’ salary is one of the best in our country, and many of them would be ready to negotiation.” “I am not surprised by the vote results, in times of economic crisis, workers often switch to unions as a way to improve their life condition,” Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University said in an interview. “I believe that the number of unions will increase significantly in the next years because many people are starting to fight back. Unions are a time-tried method to do it.”