The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has postponed indefinitely a vote scheduled for July 27 that would have decided whether Palermo Villa Inc. employees would form a union.
The postponement, ordered by Milwaukee NLRB regional director Irving Gottschalk, came after the Palermo Workers Union group filed an amendment to its initial complaint of unfair labor practices on the part of the company.
The amendment, filed July 2, alleges the company violated workers’ rights by “interfering with, discriminating, and retaliating against, and refusing to bargain with employees because of their union and other protected concerted activities.”
The union’s accusations against the company include: requiring employees to verify work authorization in a very short period of time as retaliation for union activities; hiring temporary workers to dissuade organizing; refusing to recognize the union; permanently replacing workers on strike; not requiring non-striking employees to verify legal work status; and terminating about 75 employees on June 8 for “alleged failure to provide work authorization documents,” one day after an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement order informed the company its audit was suspended.
The election has been delayed until the NLRB has investigated the accusations against Palermo Villa, which may have affected some employees’ ability to vote, said Percy Courseault, who is serving as acting regional director at the NLRB.
“The actual investigating should be a matter of weeks,” Courseault said. “That’s assuming the charge remains as is.”
If there is no merit to the charges, the election will be quickly rescheduled. If the charges are meritorious, the situation will have to be remedied to protect employees’ free choice in the election, he said.
Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group that has been supporting the workers, released a statement supporting the decision.
“When we first came together to organize to improve conditions at Palermo, we easily gathered support from 80 percent of the workforce.” said Roberto Silva of the Palermo Workers Union in the statement. “162 permanent employees of the bargaining unit signed a petition for union representation before the strike. Since then, at least 90 strikers have been unjustly fired. These retaliatory terminations and other violations by the company have made the atmosphere at Palermo too intimidating for most of our co-workers to feel free to exercise their right to support organizing.”
Palermo Villa denied the accusations in a statement, calling them a baseless attempt at deception that harm the employees and community, and maintained that it has cooperated with ICE and obeyed the law.
“Palermo’s has a long history of respecting its employees and their well being, paying a competitive wage and providing good benefits,” said Chris Dresselhuys, director of marketing. “We will continue to have a fact-based discussion with our workers and provide accurate information to help those voting to make an informed decision that is best for them. We believe our workers will be better served by maintaining the existing, direct relationship that they have with the company’s family ownership.”
