NLRB certifies Selbyville Mountaire plant vote to remove union

SELBYVILLE, De- The National Labor Rights Board has certified the vote to remove the union at the Selbyville Mountaire Poultry Plant. The vote was 356 to 80 in support of replacing the union, that had been a part of the plant since the early 70s.
Director of Communication for Mountaire Farms Catherine Bassett tells 47ABC  starting January, the Plant’s workers will now receive benefits similar to those working at their other non-union facilities including a 401k plan, profit-sharing, and 40 vacation hours after 90 days.

Mountaire also says they are happy that the vote was certified, as a previous vote was thrown out due to clerical errors, and hope workers are happy with the change.

“there is a case to be made that the union was no longer serving its purpose and employees figured out that for themselves and realized that they were losing rather than gaining by having the union represent them,” she said.

Mountaire says, with a tight labor market, they have to offer competitive benefits and compensation to retain workers and prevent turnover. They say the Union contracts they had negotiated with the workers only changed every 5 years, and did not reflect the changes other facilities had made to retain workers.