Workers at a Hershey Co. plant in Virginia have voted against joining a union, bucking a tide of unionization among food processors and retailers.
Workers at the plant in Stuarts Draft, Va., voted 843 to 225 against joining the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union (BCTGM). The vote-counting was livestreamed by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, which is expected to certify the total this week.
The vote went overwhelmingly against BCTGM, despite some of the workers complaining to reporters that they found it hard to get time off and sometimes had to work seven days straight. Like many employers facing a union vote, Hershey dedicated a website to an anti-union viewpoint.
The BCTGM was involved in high-profile strikes last year against Mondelēz and Frito-Lay. Two of Hershey’s seven American plants are unionized.
