Simmons Foods plant goes union-free.

Poultry Workers Vote UFCWU Out at Siloam Springs

Simmons Foods Inc. officials say workers at the company's Siloam Springs Plant No. 1 don't need a union because they're better off dealing directly with management.

A familiar refrain this, especially when management is doing the singing. But on Feb. 15, Plant No. 1 employees chimed in loudly when they voted 249-76 to decertify the United Food and Commercial Workers Union at their plant.

Plant No. 1 was the only unionized Simmons poultry-processing facility.

UFCWU has represented Simmons workers for more than 40 years, but the Siloam Springs plant has never been heavily organized. At the time of the vote, only seven of the 400-plus union-eligible plant workers were dues-paying members.

Cecil Casey, president of UFCWU local 2008, says the petition drive at the plant that called for the vote was ramroded through by plant management.

"That plant was unionized for 20 years, and as long as we didn't have more than 12 members there, Simmons let it alone," he says.

But when the local brought in some people from UFCWU International and started having meetings off-site to recruit new members, Simmons decided the time for tolerance was over, Casey says.

"Simmons has always been viciously anti-union," agrees Greg Denier, public relations director at the union's Washington, D.C., office. "Decerts are generally stimulated by management. Their wanting it gives workers the impetus to decertify.

Roger Brune, Simmons' vice president of human services, says Simmons stimulated nothing of the sort.

"In a decertification election, the employees have to initiate it," he says. "Clearly, in this case the employees felt the union had been a detriment to them."

The "detriment" in question concerns a salary raise that was held up because the union had not reached an accord with management on a new contract last year. Employees at every other Simmons plant received their raises on time; predictably, the delay at the Siloam Springs facility generated some anti-union sentiment.

The sticking point in negotiations was the union's "check-off card," which allowed only a 10-day window every year when employees could cancel their membership in the union, according to company Chairman Mark Simmons.

"We'd had some employee complaints two or three years ago about how hard it was to get out of the union," Simmons says. "We want the contract to be employee-friendly, but the union just hasn't been flexible."

Since Arkansas is a "right-to-work" state, union dues are not mandatory. Even non-union members are entitled to union representation if they have a grievance. This leads some, like De-nier, to wonder why Simmons workers would have organized a union ouster.

"In a right-to-work state, workers dissatisfied with the union generally just stop paying dues," Denier says.

Unions and Poultry Industry

Though Simmons is now completely union-free, UFCWU has a very strong presence at Arkansas poultry plants. The Hudson Foods Inc. plant in Hope, the El Dorado and Batesville ConAgra Inc. facilities and the Tyson Foods Inc. plants in Pine Bluff and Dardanelle are extensive operations with large union memberships - 75-80 percent of eligible workers are signed up, Casey says.

UFCWU has about 8,300 members statewide, and of those about 4,000 work in the poultry industry. Dues generally run $16-$20 a month.

"The Siloam Springs decert is really counter-trend for the poultry industry nationwide," Denier says.

This is not the first trouble Simmons has had with UFCWU recently. In 1995, the poultry powerhouse was charged with several violations of the National Labor Relations Act at plants in Southwest City, Mo., and Jay, Okla.

The presiding judge, Thomas R. Wilks, ultimately dismissed some of the complaints but found Simmons in violation of the NLRA on several counts relating to anti-union activity.

Both Simmons and the UFCWU have filed briefs contesting parts of Wilks' ruling.

Mark Simmons says the union "made a big deal about a lot of small things."

"I haven't found [National Labor Relations Board] judges to be fair," he adds. "The people in the plant are the ones who really know what's going on."

Company officials, including Simmons, refused to put Arkansas Business in touch with workers at the Siloam Springs plant.

"They spoke when they voted," Simmons says. "And you could get them to say anything you wanted."