Union Representation Elections in Michigan, North Carolina Deliver Opposite Results

Maintenance and production workers at two R.J. Reynolds Tobacco facilities in North Carolina voted against union representation in a secret-ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

The tally of ballots on Friday showed 686 votes against union representation and 556 for representation.

The election was sought by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, according to the NLRB.

In a more lopsided vote, employees at JBS Packerland in Plainwell, Mich., voted in favor of union representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 951. The facility is a beef-processing plant.

The count was 641 for and 160 against union representation.

There were eight void ballots and 27 challenged ballots in the NLRB-supervised secret-ballot election. These numbers were too few to impact the final election outcome, according to the NLRB.