The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled late last week in favor of the IAM in the long-running legal battle to force U-Haul Co. of Nevada to recognize the results of a 2003 representational election and to begin bargaining a contract for U-Haul vehicle repair workers. The workers at U-Haul voted nearly 2-1 for IAM representation in May 2003.
In a strongly worded decision, the appeals court upheld an earlier National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that ordered U-Haul to recognize and bargain with Local 845 on behalf of repair workers at the company’s facility in Las Vegas. The court also rejected claims by U-Haul that a union observer engaged in improper electioneering by smiling at voters as they arrived to cast ballots in the election.
“The poorly enforced NLRB procedures that allow a company like U-Haul to thwart the outcome of a legal election for years is a prime example of how this politically rigged system favors employers and fails workers,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “If it takes a clean sweep of the political appointees at federal agencies like the NLRB to give workers the rights they’re entitled to, then we should demand nothing less. The labor movement in the country has been held hostage long enough.”
