ACTWU Press Conference



(loud cheering and union chants)

(cheering)

F1: Everywhere we go!

CROWD: Everywhere we go!

F1: People want to know!

CROWD: People want to know!

F1: Who we are!

CROWD: Who we are!

F1: So we tell them!

CROWD: So we tell them!

F1: The mighty, mighty union

CROWD: We are the union!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

M1: (inaudible).

F1: What time is it!

M2: Union time!

(cheering)

M1: Okay. All right now. (horns honking) Hey hey!

(Cheering)

M1: All right. I've got an announcement to make. Today is a great day. It's a very different day than a day in Kannapolis in 1985.

(Cheering)

M1: (inaudible) a union today.

(Cheering)

M1: There was 6,267 ballots counted. Eight percent of the vote was challenged. The union got 3,034 votes!

(Cheering)

M1: There were 36 votes that were void and 538 challenges. The company received 3,233. Now hold on, 'cause I got something to say. All right! I've been told not to use the megaphone! (laughter) I think I can do it.

CROWD: Yeah!

M1: All right. Let me just say the ballots have not all been counted. 538 were challenged. That's 8% of the vote. We've got -- we've got -- we put up one heck of a fight here and, not only did we put one heck of a fight up, but 8% of the ballots were not counted. This means we got a coupla choices. In addition, the company, during the last days of the campaign, created an 00:05:00atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

CROWD: Yeah!

M1: James Fitzgibbons, the CEO, whose company promised you folks a fair election! And we deserve another answer!

CROWD: Yeah!

M1: And we want to know the answer!

CROWD: Yes!

M1: Now we could spend forever in a day trying to litigate these challenges, going to court and litigate these 538 challenges. And we will do that, plus file objections, but rather'n spend the money that it would take to litigate these challenges and all the time, which could take months and months and years and years, we call upon Mr. Fitzgibbons to come out "now to agree to a new election!

(Cheering and chanting)

M1: -- who can't vote and quit voting these people that don't work!

(Cheering)

M1: One more thing. You people, many people that aren't here, put up one whale of a fight in this company and we want -- we want it to be decided by 100% of the people that are supposed to vote (unintell.).

(Cheering)

M1: The Un-- the company did not win today!

(Cheering)

M1: However, the union did not win today.

(inaudible crowd noises)

M1: But we stopped the company from winning today its tied up, the company 00:07:00might tell you that they won, but they ain't won! They ain't won!

(inaudible crowd noises)

M1: Many of those votes were challenged by the Labor Board. Many, many of them were and we want a new election immediately! Not (inaudible).

(Cheering)

M1: -- word. We want the company to keep its word for the first time in 5-1/2 years, and that means the people that should vote, vote!

(Cheering and chanting)

[break in video]

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: Mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: Mighty, mighty union!

F1: Everywhere we go!

CROWD: Everywhere we go!

F1: People want to know!

CROWD: People want to know!

F1: Who we are!

CROWD: Who we are!

F1: So we tell them!

CROWD: So we tell them!

F1: We are the union!

CROWD: We are the union!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: Everywhere we go!

CROWD: Everywhere we go!

F1: People want to know!

CROWD: People want to know!

F1: Who we are!

CROWD: Who we are!

F1: So we tell them!

CROWD: So we tell them!

F1: We are the union!

CROWD: We are the union!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

F1: We want a union!

CROWD: We want a union!

F1: Gotta have a union!

CROWD: Gotta have a union!

F1: We want a union!

CROWD: We want a union!

F1: Gotta have a union!

CROWD: Gotta have a union!

F1: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

F1: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: Yeah!

(inaudible crowd noises)

[break in video]

(inaudible crowd noises)

M2: They don't care about the people. They don't care about us one bit. The company comes first and always will -- to them.

[break in video]

(inaudible crowd noises)

[break in video]

(Sound of traffic.)

[silence]

[break in video]

(inaudible crowd noises)

(Cheering)

(inaudible crowd noises)

LAURIE RUSHMEYER: We are the union!

CROWD: We are the—

[break in video]

RUSHMEYER: -- ighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

RUSHMEYER: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

RUSHMEYER: Everywhere we go!

CROWD: Everywhere we go!

RUSHMEYER: People want to know!

CROWD: People want to know!

RUSHMEYER: Who we are!

CROWD: Who we are!

RUSHMEYER: So we tell them!

CROWD: So we tell them!

RUSHMEYER: We are the union!

CROWD: We are the union!

RUSHMEYER: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

RUSHMEYRE: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

RUSHMEYRE: Mighty!

CROWD: Mighty!

RUSHMEYER: The mighty, mighty union!

CROWD: The mighty, mighty union!

(inaudible crowd noises)

F2: 1,2

CROWD: 1,2

F2: 3,4!

CROWD: 3,4

F2: 1,2,3,4!

CROWD: Union!

(Cheering)

[break in video]

F3: I know cause I've been told.

CROWD: I know cause I've been told!

F3: The union has gained control.

CROWD: The union has gained control!

F3: Vote yes.

CROWD: Vote yes!

F3: Vote yes.

CROWD: Vote Yes!

F3: Don't vote no.

CROWD: Don't vote no!

F3: Vote yes (inaudible) vote yes.

(Cheering)

[break in video]

M3: Okay.

CYNTHIA HAYNES: I would like to welcome everybody here today, and I would like 00:17:00to say that, first of all, we don't have anything to be ashamed of.

F4: Amen.

CYNTHIA HAYNES: My name is Cynthia Haynes. I work at Plant 6, or Cell Block Six, whichever.

CROWD: All right.

HAYNES: And to my far right is Robert Steele. He works at Plant 4. And I'd like to introduce the greatest regional director ever, Bruce Raynor.

(Cheering)

M4: Git 'em, Bruce! Burn 'em up, Bruce.

BRUCE RAYNOR: One way -- one way or another yesterday's vote will not stand. The National Labor Relations Board declared no winner in the contest for union representation at Fieldcrest-Cannon. The NLRB did not declare that the company won and the NLRB did not declare that the union won. The vote yesterday was too 00:18:00close to call. The Fieldcrest-Cannon workers brought this company to a standstill and the results of this election may not be decided for many months. In the election, the company voted, attempted to vote, several hundred ineligible workers. They attempted to vote supervisors, secretaries, timekeepers and, believe it or not, i.e's. The also attempted and did prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots as the law provides for them to do. The company interfered with the election process. Prior to the election, the union had filed a complaint -- a charge with the NLRB and the NLRB had issued a complaint against the company for threats and intimidation against workers. 00:19:00Since that complaint was issued, the company has broken the -- broken the law repeatedly and broke the rules of election conduct. These include additional threats of plant closing, intimidation, and discharges of union supporters. The company broke the election rules, broke the 24-hour rule, and did anything in its power to try to steal the election for these workers. They failed to steal the election. This election will not be decided, under the legal process available to us, for many months to come. The union's legal recourse is to file objections to the election, which we intend to do to ask the National Labor Relations Board to set this election aside. In addition, each one of the 538 challenged ballots will be litigated to determine which were eligible voters and 00:20:00which were not eligible voters. Every one of those sealed ballots is a secret ballot. Neither the union nor the company how those voters cast their vote. This process will be costly to the company and will not produce a result for many, many months. The Fieldcrest-Cannon workers, this community, are entitled to a decisive result in this election. There is a way to have a decisive result in this election -- a decisive result now. And that is for the company to agree to a proposal advanced by the union that has been faxed to Chairman of the Board of Fieldcrest-Cannon, James Fitzgibbons, as we sit here, calling for an agreement to a new election, an agreement on who is eligible to vote and who is 00:21:00not eligible to vote, and to have an election conducted that produces a decisive result, a winner and a loser because as of today there is no winner and there is no loser in this election. If the company declines the union's challenge and the union will stand by its decision to get this election set aside and a new election will be ordered. The union will also litigate every one of these challenges ballots to the full extent that the law permits and the result will be determined somewhere way down the road. We sincerely hope that Mr. Fitzgibbons stands by the statement that he made that the Fieldcrest-Cannon workers are entitled to a fair election. They are also entitled to a decisive result of a fair election. And the union will see to it that that happens. In the meantime, the union will not see any Fieldcrest-Cannon workers bullied by 00:22:00this management.

(Cheering)

RAYNOR: We stand these brave and courageous working Americans who stood up under intense pressure for a better way of life for themselves and their families, the people who we can be proud to associate ourselves with now and over a long period of time. These people represent what's best in America -- people trying to make this country a better place to live, people trying to make these plants better, people trying to make their communities better. These people fought a courageous fight against enormous odds. And, folks, I'm very, very proud of you. We're very, very proud of the people who supported us in this community. We feel sorry for some of the folks who were not able to stand up for their convictions. We hope that sometime in the future that they'll come 00:23:00around to understand that only by standing up for what they believe in and standing up for what they want will this country and these plants and these towns get any better.

(Cheering)

RAYNOR: We look forward to the final victory in this election for the Fieldcrest-Cannon worker's long struggle for unionism in these plants. We're confident of that victory. We're confident that, one way or another, this election will produce a union at Fieldcrest-Cannon.

(Cheering)

RAYNOR: We want you to hear from representatives of the Fieldcrest-Cannon workers. This has been their campaign and they've run it, they've fought and we 00:24:00want you to hear from them. First, Robert Steele from Plant 4.

ROBERT STEELE: Yes. My name is Robert Steele and I work at Plant 4, and I'm very proud to say that I'm 1 out of 3,000 plus people that could come to a decision for themselves without anybody's help. No matter how much pressure the company put on us, no matter how many threats we heard, no matter how many people that we had expelled from meetings, we came to that decision on our own.

M4: Yeah, we did.

M5: Yeah, we did.

M6: We did.

STEELE: We were given a chance to come out and seek information. This is -- this is what was told to me, "Go and find your facts." I got up and found the facts and I voted yes last night. I'm going to vote yes tomorrow night. I'm 00:25:00going to vote yes forever!

CROWD: Yeah!

RAYNOR: And now Cynthia Haynes from Plant 6.

APPLAUSE

(inaudible crowd noises)

M7: Cellblock 6!

HAYNES: I would just like to say that I'm proud of the Cannon Mill workers that had the guts to stand up and say yes, and I'm even prouder of the others, even though they were scared. When you're scared, you'll do anything. Fear'll make you do anything, and I would just like to say I'm proud of you. And we will -- just like he said, we will vote yes today, tomorrow and forever.

(Cheering)

RAYNOR: We have copies available of the letter that's being faxed to 00:26:00Fitzgibbons as we sit here, and at this point we'll take whatever questions.

M8: How many eligible voters were prevented from casting a ballot and why were they?

RAYNOR: The company -- in a National Labor Relations Board election, the company can close the gates and the company refused to let some people in to vote, people who either out sick when the voting times were in their area or who failed to vote in their area and tried to vote in another area. They were denied access to the voting areas.

M8: Do you know how many?

RAYNOR: Sizable numbers. We don't know precisely how many.

M9: Who's going to pay for the battle if it goes to litigations?

RAYNOR: Fieldcrest-Cannon Company is going to pay to keep this election locked up, if that's what they want to do.

M9: But as far as if it goes to court, what legal obligations will the union have to consider in terms of finances?

RAYNOR: The union will -- the union will litigate on behalf of workers, as we have in the past, and we'll got to whatever extent is necessary.

M9: Would individual workers have to donate to that (inaudible)?

RAYNOR: No. Individual workers donate to the union every day all over America as they pay their union dues.

M10: That's what they want, we got it for 'em, baby.

(Cheering)

M10: Why don't you think there was a -- aside from the charge that the company used unfair labor practices, why don't you think there was a clear-cut winner?

RAYNOR: It was a very close election. The company put on a very expensive campaign. The company put on a very tough campaign. The people were under tremendous pressure to support the company in this election. People had T shirts "Vote No" T shirts thrown at them. People had pressure to put "Vote No" T shirts on. People were threatened that the plants would close. People were threatened that they would not be promoted. People were threatened that they'd be laid off, that retribution would follow the election if they supported the 00:28:00union and some people got scared. It was a very, very close election. There's no question about that.

M10: Anybody get fired because of their --

CROWD: Yeah!

M10: How many people got fired?

RAYNOR: Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 11 that we know of at this point.

M10: And is the union going to bat for them?

RAYNOR: The union will fight on behalf of each and every one of those workers to make sure that they get reinstated with full back pay plus interest from this company.

(Cheering)

RAYNOR: I don't know. In the interest of their cases, we're going to first prepare their cases and file them before they'll appear at any public forums.