Union’s stance: Still striking

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=44697

Brian Mulherin - Daily News Staff Writer

Friday, May 29, 2009

A day after Metalworks President Tom Paine announced that Teamsters Local 406 had been voted out by Metalworks, workers represented by the union were still carrying signs and looking very much like strikers in front of the company’s freight entrance on Sixth Street.

The only change since the announcement has been an increased police presence, strikers said. A City of Ludington Police Tahoe sat on Fourth Street near Conrad Industrial Drive while a Mason County sheriff’s cruiser sat on Sixth near the freight entrance of Eagle XPress, next to Metalworks.

Union Steward Gregg Wilbur said on the 212th day of the strike that the union members are still of the belief they’re on strike.

“People are still doing what they need to do,” Wilbur said.

Teamsters Local 406 Business Agent Ellis Wood said the announcement Thursday was a ploy and 117 workers of the original 146 remain on strike.

“We have every intention of contesting any petition filed by Metalworks,” Wood told the Daily News in an e-mail. “To date the union has not seen any petition by the employees or the company. This is just another attempt by Metalworks to stall and avoid bargaining in good faith with the members of Teamsters Local 406.”

FULL story at link.