COUNSELING CENTER SPURNS TEAMSTERS

Employees at the Cape Girardeau Community Counseling Center rejected union organizing efforts by the Teamsters in secret-balloting held at the center's Cape Girardeau office, 402 S. Silver Springs Road, Monday.

"We don't have a total on the vote," said Roger Henry, executive director of the center. "But we do know that the proposal was defeated."

About 80 percent of the counseling center workers eligible to vote said no to the union, said Henry.

Teamsters Union Local 574 had asked for a vote. Employees from Perryville and Ste. Genevieve traveled from those offices to cast ballots.

The counseling center covers a five-county area -- Cape Girardeau, Madison, Bollinger, Perry and St. Francois -- from three offices,

Monday's vote marked the third ballot his year on union representation in Cape Girardeau County. Both previous votes involved the Teamsters.

In January, workers at The Ceramo Co. in Jackson turned down representation, and in March employees of M&W Packaging in Cape Girardeau rejected a union organizing effort.