Newburgh firm must quit union-busting (One week after proposed OSHA fines)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090415/BIZ/904150338/-1/NEWS

Concept agrees to settlement; still faces fines

By Christine Young
Times Herald-Record
Posted: April 15, 2009 - 2:00 AM

CITY OF NEWBURGH — One week after being hit with hefty proposed fines for potentially fatal working conditions, Concept Packaging owner Jeffrey Fanning signed an agreement with the National Labor Relations Board to refrain from union-busting and to post signs telling employees of their rights to unionize.

Reached at his office, Fanning hung up on a reporter for the second time in as many days.

Concept Packaging, the country's second-largest bottler of nail polish, employs about 62 workers, many of whom speak only Spanish.

In October, Teamsters Local 445 filed an NLRB complaint accusing Fanning of harassing, threatening and firing workers for signing a petition to join the Teamsters. The complaint said managers illegally attended union meetings and staged an anti-union rally outside the Dupont Avenue factory.

The April 7 settlement agreement is the result of an NLRB investigation that found Fanning "guilty of these charges," said Local 445 officer Adrian Huff. Had Fanning refused to settle, "it only goes one place from here, and that's federal court," Huff said.

VIDEO: Comments made during anti-union rally last Fall: illegal codeNewWindow(775,645,'/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081023/MEDIA0201/81023025/-1/MEDIA04');