By Urvaksh Karkaria

A strike at Auburn Gear that dragged on for more than two years has ended after the union that represented workers at the operation for more than 60 years was decertified.

Many of the union employees who were on strike had been replaced months ago as the company hired other workers.

The National Labor Relations Board informed Auburn Gear on Tuesday that the United Auto Workers Local 825 has been decertified as the bargaining agent for the company’s hourly employees, George Callas, Auburn Gear chief executive officer, said Wednesday.

“The union has to pack up and go away. There’s no legal basis for the strike,” Callas said. “The company has no legal obligation to negotiate with the union anymore.”

The last time the two sides met was a “couple of months ago,” he said.

Auburn Gear, which employs about 120, makes gear drives for light construction and agricultural equipment and automotive parts for the aftermarket industry.

Annual sales for the privately held company are undisclosed.

In early November, active hourly employees petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to decertify the union. In a vote conducted by the board on Dec. 15, the eligible employees voted against having the UAW represent them as their collective bargaining agent, Callas said.

The decertification, which was effective Monday, means that UAW Local 825 is no longer the certified bargaining representative at Auburn Gear, said Patricia Nachand, assistant regional director of the National Labor Relations Board Region 25.

About 55 of nearly 60 eligible employees voted Dec. 15, Nachand said. About 90 percent of those voting approved the decertification.

In addition to replacement workers, 91 union workers voted, Callas said. However, the union votes did not count because they had been on strike for more than a year and had been permanently replaced, he said.

The UAW Local 825 hit the picket lines in November 2002 after the company proposed terminating health insurance benefits for retirees and their spouses.

When the strike began, the company terminated retiree health benefits. Auburn Gear, which employed about 150 before the strike, also proposed reducing its contributions to current employees’ pension plans, which management said were over financed.The company has hired replacement workers since.

The company is looking to hire about six hourly and salaried positions, Callas said.

The former striking workers can apply for jobs, he said.

Hourly workers make an average of between $12 and $19 an hour.

Sal Bevilacqua, president of UAW Local 825, said Wednesday he had not received notice that the union was decertified.

The union leader said he believed the company engineered the attempt to seek a decertification vote to drive out the union.

For the past two years many union workers remained hopeful that the strike would be resolved and that they would return to their jobs, Bevilacqua said.

The union will wait until its gets notice of the decertification before deciding whether to appeal the decision, Bevilacqua said.

“We will keep all options open,” he said.

Source:  The Journal Gazette