Threatened BG&E Workers Turn Down Union

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Worried about keeping their jobs, Baltimore Gas & Electric workers voted down union representation in mid-December. The vote against joining IBEW 1900 was the fourth time the local had tried to organize non-supervisory employees at the Baltimore-based utility (BG&E Workers To Vote On Union 12/1/2010 UC). “I’m not shocked at the results,” Local 1900 President John Holt said, noting that union support waned as workers attended company meetings where it was implied job security under unionization was uncertain. ”If you tell people they might not have a job, and it’s a week before Christmas, what do you think the vote will be?” While Holt said he did not plan to contest the election results, he did not rule out the possibility of a fifth try if workers again showed interest. - excerpted from Ben Mook’s report in The Daily Record