Teamsters, New Era Reach Contract Deal After Dispute at Alabama Plant (NAACP approved)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D8UPJHPO0

Garry Mitchell
February 13, 2008 - 1:34 p.m.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - New Era Cap Co., the exclusive cap supplier for Major League Baseball, and the Teamsters union have reached a contract deal with workers at its Mobile plant after a lengthy dispute that included allegations of racial discrimination.

The racial bias and anti-union claims prompted the NAACP to urge baseball to take action against New Era, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison canceled its license deal with the company in protest.

New Era spokeswoman Dana Marciniak in Buffalo, N.Y., confirmed Wednesday that a contract agreement had been reached early Monday. It still requires approval by the workers.

Marciniak declined further comment while preparing a joint statement with the union to announce the deal. A union spokesman did not immediately return a phone message.

On July 12, workers at the Mobile plant voted 57-53 for union representation — their first bid for a contract. Union officials claimed the workers, mostly black women, had complained of forced overtime and racial discrimination.

During negotiations, Jim Gookins, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 991, claimed that between April and October 2007, the company fired over 20 workers at the Mobile plant that included "numerous union activists" and replaced them with temporary workers.

Local 991 represents the Mobile workers.

FULL story at link.

[Frances]

1. Thanks for posting this

I grew up near where one New Era plant is located. It doesn't surprise me that there would be racial discrimination. The public schools weren't integrated till the mid-sixties, and when they were, many whites put their children in all-white "academies."