Approximately 1,000 Mountaire Farms employees, located at the Selbyville, DE. plant, have advised the company that they no longer wish to be represented by Local 355 of the Teamsters Union. Accordingly, the Company has advised the Union that they have withdrawn recognition and will stop collecting union dues from paychecks.
During 2020 a ballot to decertify the United Food and Commercial Union Local 27 was deferred following a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board. The issue arose mid-year when the NLRB directed that ballots cast by workers should be sealed until the Board reviewed legal precedents protecting unions from being ousted while collective bargaining was in progress. The petitioner for the UFCW case was assisted by the National Right to Work Foundation that represents workers in decertification cases.
Mountaire inherited union representation at the Selbyville plant following acquisition of the facility in 1977. Conflict between the union and Mountaire Farms intensified at the beginning of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.