Saying a last-minute company proposal to settle a 10-year-old pension lawuit illegally interfered with a UAW organizing campaign, the National Labor Relations Board has ordered a new election for an estimated 730 workers at Onan Corp. in Fridley.

The workers, who make Cummins-brand generators, rejected representation by the United Auto Workers on a 370-333 vote Nov. 15, 2000.

However, the three-member NLRB in Washington unanimously overturned a hearing officer's findings on one UAW's challenge to the election. The board said Onan 'used the proposed settlement to attempt to influence voters' six days before the vote.

Ron Sharp, Region 18 director of the NLRB in Minneapolis, said officials were meeting with the company and union to schedule a new election date, possibly in September.

Onan workers had sued the company after it restructured its pension plan in 1989. The restructuring, they claimed, dramatically reduced the value of the plan for workers. Last Nov. 9, Onan posted and distributed a flyer saying it had made a settlement offer for the lawsuit.

The NLRB said the company announcement, which included language saying each 'participant's cash balance annuity would increase each year,' was far more than a simple communication or 'an innocent response' to discussion and legal developments.

The Onan case is the second time in the past year the NLRB has ordered a new election in the Twin Cities because of illegal company behavior during an organizing campaign. Earlier this year, Service Employees International Union Local 284 won a second election for 1,600 school bus drivers and other employees at First Student Transportation. However, the company's tactics did what they were supposed to: In voting in April, the workers again rejected the union, just as they had in May 1999, when the company was owned by Ryder Student Transportation Services.

November's vote was the second time in recent years that Onan workers have defeated a union organizing drive; in 1997, they rejected representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters 341-201

This article was written for the Aug. 29, 2001, issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org