Nordenia employees say no to Teamsters

Business Today

JACKSON -- Employees at Nordenia USA have voted to reject the Teamsters union by nearly a 3-1 margin.

The workers at the packaging company voted 176-66 against joining the union during a two-day secret ballot in mid-April.

There are 325 employees at the plant, which is located at the intersection of Route J and Highway 77 across the street from Procter & Gamble.

"The outcome sends a clear message that Nordenia USA employees prefer to be treated as individuals," said Paul Wiedlin, Nordenia president. "I think the solid majority of the people didn't want a union, and that was reflected in the vote."

Wiedlin said some employees were interested in union representation because of "internal" issues.

"We had some people that had gotten upset and decided they were going to do something," he said.

Wiedlin said he did not want to make any comments about why there was a union campaign.

But Robert Hutchings, the head of the Cape Girardeau office of Teamsters Local 574, said that those workers who were interested in joining a union had complained of a lack of "respect in the workplace." Hutchings said another vote cannot be held for at least a year, but declined to predict whether that would happen.

Nordenia USA, which opened north of Cape Girardeau as M&W Packaging more than a decade ago, started out making flexible packaging for Procter & Gamble, but has since expanded its services to many clients.

It is a subsidiary of Nordenia International, a German corporation with manufacturing facilities worldwide.