Rival Unions at MWV Mill to Hold New Election

On Sept. 30, at MeadWestvaco Corp.’s (MWV) boxboard mill in Covington, Va., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is to supervise a secret ballot inside the mill to settle which of two rival unions will represent about 900 hourly workers at the operation, The Roanoke Times reports.

The NLRB set the election date for the vote between United Steelworkers (USW) Local 8-675 and newcomer Covington Paperworkers Union (CPU) Local 675.

CPU hopes to win enough votes to become the MWV bargaining unit and to renegotiate the contract, The Roanoke Times reports.

CPU split off in October 2007, complaining that during contract talks, negotiators from USW International were pushing a national agenda instead of the best interests of the local members. The two unions have since been back and forth with elections and to the NLRB.

During a March 2008 election CPU won by a narrow margin and looked on the way to become the Covington mill’s bargaining unit.

But the NLRB found evidence to support USW allegations of electioneering misconduct before the vote by CPU.
In January, an administrative law judge for the NLRB ordered another election, which CPU appealed. In early August, Roy Hall, president of CPU, says the union had decided to drop its NLRB appeal and move ahead with a new election.

USW continued as the contract bargaining unit at the paper mill and in July its members approved a six-year agreement with Glen Allen, Va.-based MWV.