Workers at West plant decertify USWA local

KEARNEY, Neb. (March 28)—Production employees at West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.´s Kearney compression molding plant decertified the United Steelworkers local representing workers at the site by a 64-61 vote March 26. The company and United Rubber Workers/USWA Local 815 have battled for the past 12 years regarding the unionization of West workers, said Mary Hakanson, the local's financial secretary and past president. There have been four decertification votes—requiring petitions signed by 30 percent of the rank-and-file—in Kearney during that time, she said. Local 815 officials will meet with USWA International representatives during the week of April 1 to discuss filing labor charges against West for alleged anti-union tactics during its campaign.