MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (July 26, 2004) — Employees at Continental Tire North America Inc.'s Mount Vernon plant narrowly voted against union representation by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent, the tire maker said.
The United Steelworkers of America had petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to represent production and maintenance employees at the plant. The NLRB scheduled a secret ballot election July 22-24.
Continental said 807 employees voted against representation vs. 747 votes for representation. About 1,650 employees were eligible to vote, and 1,554 cast their decision. The tire maker said 41 ballots were challenged, but they are not enough to change the outcome of the election, which had a 60-vote spread.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the election,” said Nick Fletcher, vice president of human resources for Continental. “We hope that the Steelworkers will respect our employees' choice.”
By law, the union has seven days to file objections to the conduct of the election. Continental said it complied with laws and regulations in connection to the election process.