Employees at migrant council vote down union

Employees at the Washington State Migrant Council have narrowly voted against forming a union. But the vote is being challenged, which could change the outcome.

The proposal to unionize failed last week with a vote of 287 to 290, according to ballots counted at the National Labor Relations Board in Seattle.

The NLRB, the Migrant Council and Teachers United, the union that led the organizing effort at the social service agency, are awaiting a ruling now on 39 challenged ballots. Teachers United is a joint effort by the American Federation of Teachers and the Washington Federation of State Employees.

Over the years, various unions have targeted the Migrant Council, which has had a history of management problems. But Teachers United, which began the campaign last summer, is the first to gain a foothold.

Laura Reisdorph, public affairs assistant at the Washington Federation of State Employees in Olympia, said a hearing will be held to determine the validity of the challenged ballots. Once eligibility is determined, those votes will determine the results.

A hearing date hasn't been scheduled.

The union filed 20 challenges, saying some ballots were cast by management employees ineligible to vote. The union also believes the Migrant Council mislabeled some employees as temporary when they are actually full time and eligible to vote. Those employees should have been able to vote, the union said.

The NLRB filed eight challenges, saying it believed employees eligible to vote were missing from a list provided by the Migrant Council. The Migrant Council filed 11 challenges, saying employees who had been fired voted inappropriately.

The voting was conducted through the mail and at Migrant Council locations across the state.

The Migrant Council, headquartered in Sunnyside, operates 27 learning centers and employs about 725 people. The agency provides early childhood education and other programs to the working poor in rural communities.

The bulk of the Migrant Council's $30 million budget comes from federal funding of Head Start, the early-learning program pioneered in the 1960s.

Teachers United said it has been able to boost wages and improve health-care benefits at other Head Start programs where it has successfully organized employees. Entry level aides at the Migrant Council make $8.30 an hour compared with $12.14 to $15.66 an hour at unionized programs

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com