SELBYVILLE, Del. (AP) - The union representing about 1,000 workers at a Delaware poultry processing plant accused the company Friday of engaging in unfair labor practices, including monitoring the employees’ communications on social media and excluding stewards and officials from an inspection related to the coronavirus.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 detailed the accusations in a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board against Mountaire Farms, the Salisbury Daily Times reported. It is the third complaint that the union has filed against the plant this year.
Union vice president Nelson Hill in a statement said the organization created a Facebook page to communicate with workers after representatives were not allowed to enter the plant in Selbyville earlier this spring. He said the company told workers it was aware of those who were posting comments on the page.
“It was meant to put fear in the workers that they couldn’t even communicate lawfully with their union on Facebook,” Hill said.
Mountaire Farms in a statement accused the union of embarking on a “smear campaign” against the company and ignoring its members “in a desperate attempt to hold onto their money.” The company said the NLRB has affirmed an employee-led petition to decertify the union, and the election is scheduled for June.
The newspaper reported the union also accused the company of hiring a contractor to talk to workers about removing the organization. The union said the company forced members “to attend captive employee meetings” in which social-distancing guidelines were not followed.
Hill said public health officials inspected the plant April 30, but the company did not allowed the union representative to be involved. He said the union had received “many complaints” about unsafe working conditions amid the pandemic.
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