Letterkenny Army Depot’s contract workers vote “union”
Photo by Ryan Blackwell, Public Opinion
Contract employees at Letterkenny Army Depot have voted overwhelmingly to unionize.
Workers casting secret ballots at the union office on Thursday voted by a near 4-to-1 margin (485-144) to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. They currently work for Bowhead Support Group, the latest in a series of firms contracted to supply labor in the shops at Letterkenny.
About 950 people work for Bowhead at Letterkenny.
The National Labor Relations Board oversaw the election. Under NLRB election rules, results are determined by a simple majority of those casting ballots.
Stagnant wages, reduced benefits and sharp increases to healthcare costs were among the key issues that triggered the year-long organizing effort.
“I’ve been a union member at another employer, and I’ve seen first-hand how collective bargaining can stabilize a workplace and give workers a voice on the job,” said Terry “T-bone” Young, a 7 1/2-year warehouse specialist at the Letterkenny.”The only real way to protect our wages, healthcare benefits and seniority rights is with an IAM contract.”
“I’d like to welcome the new members from Bowhead,” Eastern Territory GVP Lynn Tucker Jr. said. “They recognized that IAM representation and a collective bargaining agreement as the best way to improve their careers and the economic security of their families. This campaign had to overcome some very large hurdles to be successful.”
Union supporters said they had gone six years without cost-of-living adjustments or performance raises. They also said they wanted guarantees that workers with seniority would keep their jobs should another company take over the contract at Letterkenny. New management sometimes decides who to keep based on personal bias, according to contract employees.
Some contracted companies file WARN notices with the state before their contracts expire. Employers are required to provide 60-day notice in advance of a closing or mass layoff. The filing further raises workers’ anxieties.
Letterkenny could hire a different manpower agency as early as Oct. 1. Union officials have said they want to negotiate a labor agreement with Bowhead before Bowhead’s contract with Letterkenny expires so the additional costs of the union agreement can be passed through to the government.
The U.S. Department of Labor sets the pay rates for contract jobs, but is often years behind in updating the pay rates.
Contract employees, or “temps,” may do the same work as government employees. The contract for manpower allows the Army to handle a surge in workload without having to hire more government employees.
Letterkenny’s federal employees who work in shops and offices or who are firefighters and security officers are represented by unions.
Letterkenny and its tenants and contractors together employ about 3,500 people, making it the largest employer in Franklin County. The depot repairs, remakes or manufactures equipment and missiles that support soldiers in the field. Bowhead employees are welders, electricians, machinists and vehicle and equipment repair technicians.
The IAM is among the nation’s largest trade unions, representing nearly 700,000 people.
Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759.
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