North Carolina's Union Movement

“25 Years to Get a Union”

There is something wrong with the world when workers have to spend 25 years fighting for a voice on the job. But that is exactly what the employees at Pilkington Glass in Laurinburg had to do.

Howard Hall has melted glass at Pilkington for 28 years, and was a major player in the push for representation at the plant. Howard remembers that “there were enough workers who supported a union to be able to win elections, but management always forced us to attend mandatory union-busting meetings, and then people got scared and voted ‘no.’”

Employer intimidation caused multiple failed elections and struck fear into employees who wanted a union, but were afraid to vote for it.

“Management threatened to close down the plant or ship the jobs to another plant,” says Howard. “They told us that we would have to go out on strike if we voted in a union.”

When the company changed hands, the new management allowed workers to form a union through majority sign up. The process was quick and easy. The majority of employees signed cards indicating their support for voice and bargaining power, and a union was formed. Today, employees enjoy a contract and the right to discuss their needs and concerns with management as equals.

“We have more of a voice in a unionized plant because we have representatives who can sit down across the table from management and work things out,” says Howard. “I worked at plants without unions, and whatever the management says, goes. There is an open door policy but no one is listening.”