Teamsters allege Florida water delivery company illegally threatened workers during union campaign

After filing a petition to join the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters last month, a group of workers employed by Florida bottled water delivery company ReadyRefresh narrowly voted against joining the Teamsters labor union in a split 10–10 vote on Nov. 16.

Under federal labor rules, more than 50% of workers voting in a union election must vote in favor of unionization for the labor union to prevail. Translation: This vote was a loss for the union.

But the fight doesn’t appear to be over yet. A union official for Teamsters Local 79, based in Tampa, told Orlando Weekly  that the union planned to file an objection to the election results over alleged “misconduct” by company management. If the regional National Labor Relations Board finds merit in the objection, the board could order another election. That is, a do-over of sorts.

According to John Sholtes, an organizer for the Teamsters, the company illegally interfered with the union election campaign by holding meetings in which managers told workers lies about unionization and threatened retaliation for supporting the union.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, it’s illegal for employers to “interfere with, restrain, or coerce” workers who are exercising their right to form or join a union.

The law forbids employers from threatening workers, firing them, cutting their scheduled hours or otherwise retaliating against workers for union support.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, it’s illegal for employers to “interfere with, restrain, or coerce” workers who are exercising their right to form or join a union.

It’s not an uncommon practice, in part due to weak penalties for violations, which provide little disincentive.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, nearly half of U.S. employers are charged with violating federal law in union election campaigns, from illegally firing workers to coercing and threatening workers. Some employers, flush with enough cash, hire professional union-busters to water down pro-union support within the workforce.

ReadyRefresh workers in Davenport, Florida — including delivery drivers, forklift operators and warehouse workers — first filed a petition with the federal labor board to join the Teamsters in October after reaching out to the union two months prior.

Filing a petition like this triggers the process of scheduling a union election. In order to file a petition, at least 30% of workers eligible to join the union must sign cards in support of an election, but labor organizers generally encourage workers to shoot for much higher.

That’s because what happens between the time workers file a petition and when a union election actually takes place can have an effect on the outcome of the final vote. The longer it takes for an election to happen, the more time an anti-union employer has to plan efforts to crush support for the union ahead of the vote.

Holding mandatory anti-union meetings, formally known as captive audience meetings, is a common tactic that employers use to whittle down union support. And, to labor organizers’ chagrin, it’s considered perfectly legal for employers to hold such meetings in most states under current interpretations of federal law.

Sholtes told Orlando Weekly that managers for ReadyRefresh, a supplier owned by a former Nestlé Waters North America subsidiary, tried to gut union support among workers by dishing out “futility statements” during employee meetings.

Statements like, for example, telling workers there’s no point in joining a union because you won’t get anything more than what non-union workers get — plus, you’ll be stuck paying union dues.

Union dues typically amount to just a small cut of a worker’s paycheck, for the purpose of supporting union activities. However, in right-to-work states like Florida, you don’t have to become a union member and pay dues to share in the benefit union representation can gain. (So that statement is true, albeit in a very backward-thinking way.)

Unions can negotiate higher wages for workers, establish workplace grievance policies, and fight for improvements to benefits such as healthcare and paid leave.

During union election campaigns, however, it’s common for employers to claim, or heavily imply, that job benefits workers currently receive would be wiped out if workers unionize, because they — according to the employer — would have to negotiate those things through a union, which employers like to characterize as a meddlesome third party.

Sholtes believes managers’ alleged statements to ReadyRefresh workers constitutes conduct that unlawfully influenced the outcome of the union election, which left the Teamsters just one vote shy of a victory.

After a union election takes place, the union and the employer both have five business days to file objections. If no objections are filed, the result of the election will be certified. Records show the union filed their objection with the National Labor Relations Board last Wednesday.

BlueTriton, the parent company of ReadyRefresh, declined to comment on the union’s allegations. “We do not comment on pending legal matters,” a company spokesperson told Orlando Weekly in an emailed statement.

The election among ReadyRefresh workers comes just months after UPS delivery workers, represented by the Teamsters, approved a historic contract, raising wages for hundreds of thousands of workers nationwide, creating more full-time jobs at UPS, and securing workplace protections such as air conditioning in package delivery trucks.

This post has been updated to include comment from BlueTriton provided post-publication.

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This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2023.