La-Z-Boy plant workers want vote on union
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 11, 2007
Dayton, Tenn. — Some workers at a La-Z-Boy plant here have petitioned for a union election, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
Representatives of the company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 175 are scheduled to meet Feb. 13 to discuss how many workers would make up a collective bargaining unit. The plant employs about 1,800.
Chip Harrell, a spokesman for the NLRB in Atlanta, said an election may be scheduled after that dispute is resolved.
La-Z-Boy spokesman Mark Stegeman said there's not currently a union at the plant. He also said he doubted the Electrical Workers local had enough valid signatures on a petition to require an election.
Carmela Cruse, an organizer for the Electrical Workers, said some employees approached the union to seek to bargain collectively because of concerns about declining pay and pension benefits.
According to the company and local news reports, some workers held an anti-union rally outside the plant in response to the organizing efforts.
