ORGANIZING

More workers choose UAW for respect on the job

It wasn’t so much money as it was the bad treatment from management that made Fulton Precision Industries workers in McConnellsburg, Pa., choose the UAW.

“The biggest thing we wanted was respect from the owners. We were just tired of being treated like cattle,” said Ed Keefer, a quality inspector.

The 70 workers at the machine shop, which supplies Atlas Copco and Caterpillar, joined about 1,400 other workers who said yes to the UAW the past couple of months.

That includes workers at Ceramic Glaze Specialties, Hammond, Ind.; PolyOne Corp., Avon Lake, Ohio; Premier Manufacturing Support Services Inc., Dundee, Mich.; Northwoods Body Shop, Hibbing, Minn.; Airway Cleaners, Queens, N.Y.; Freightliner PDC, Memphis, Tenn.; Lufthansa Technics, Tulsa, Okla., and Android Industries, Springfield, Ohio.

Two other locals soundly defeated decertification votes.

Workers at Precision Formed Products in Rockford, Ill., voted 177-72 to remain UAW members. Local 975 members at Accubilt in Lima, Ohio maintained solidarity by a 140-33 vote.

Fulton Precision workers in McConnellsburg, Pa., are UAW and proud of it.