United Steelworkers of America District 11 has organized 60 workers at Aitkin's Nortech Systems.
"We won an NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) election Oct. 6 by 27 to 21," said organizer Eric Lehto. Seven other ballots were challenged by the union because they were for two supervisors, a spouse of a supervisor who hadn't worked enough hours and four workers at Nortech's plant in Merrifield, Minn.
"We won five of the seven which gave us the win, so the other two are just considered 'challenged' ballots," said Lehto.
While low wages and mandatory overtime were concerns of the workers, not being listened to and treated with respect were the primary reasons for calling in the USWA. Right across the street from Nortech is Aitkin Iron Works, which has 60 Steelworkers working inside. In the poorest county in Minnesota, the Nortech workers didn't have to go far to figure out how to improve their work lives.
Nortech had previously been called Zercon and had made depth finders. Now it makes cables for cameras and TV/VCR connections. It touts itself as the nation's largest after-market producer of camera cables in the nation. It has facilities in Aitkin, Merrifield, Bemidji and Fairmont, Minnesota, as well as Augusta, Wisconsin.
This article is reprinted from the Dec. 6 edition of the Duluth Labor World.
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United Steelworkers of America District 11 has organized 60 workers at Aitkin’s Nortech Systems.
“We won an NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) election Oct. 6 by 27 to 21,” said organizer Eric Lehto. Seven other ballots were challenged by the union because they were for two supervisors, a spouse of a supervisor who hadn’t worked enough hours and four workers at Nortech’s plant in Merrifield, Minn.
“We won five of the seven which gave us the win, so the other two are just considered ‘challenged’ ballots,” said Lehto.
While low wages and mandatory overtime were concerns of the workers, not being listened to and treated with respect were the primary reasons for calling in the USWA. Right across the street from Nortech is Aitkin Iron Works, which has 60 Steelworkers working inside. In the poorest county in Minnesota, the Nortech workers didn’t have to go far to figure out how to improve their work lives.
Nortech had previously been called Zercon and had made depth finders. Now it makes cables for cameras and TV/VCR connections. It touts itself as the nation’s largest after-market producer of camera cables in the nation. It has facilities in Aitkin, Merrifield, Bemidji and Fairmont, Minnesota, as well as Augusta, Wisconsin.
This article is reprinted from the Dec. 6 edition of the Duluth Labor World.