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Whatever Happened To...
An update on past news
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Reynolds Recycling voted down union
Question: What ever happened to the Teamsters union's attempt earlier this year to unionize Reynolds Recycling?
Answer: Local 996 of the Teamsters union sought in the spring to unionize the locally based recycling company, which employs 127 and has the most centers under Hawaii's beverage container redemption program.
Reynolds sought and received several postponements of a vote from the National Labor Relations Board.
Ballots finally were counted Oct. 18, and the union was rejected by 80 percent of voting Reynolds workers, President Terry Telfer said.
"We're ecstatic that our employees voted not to unionize," Telfer said yesterday. He attributed the outcome to employees knowing "our door is always open," and to the company's wage and benefits package, which he would not disclose.
Local 996 President Mel Kahele said he was disappointed that the National Labor Relations Board allowed voting by Reynolds employees who were hired after the union called for a vote. He said those later hires were hired because they were anti-union.
"A lot of people (at Reynolds) wanted the union," Kahele said, "but when they hired a large amount of employees after the cutoff date, it had a lot of people discouraged more."
Telfer said the company abided by Labor Board decisions and that the vote was fair.
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