Press Releases
Teamsters Applaud CEMEX Ruling
Press Contact: Matt McQuaid Phone: (202) 624-6877 Email: mmcquaid@teamster.org
Administrative Law Judge Finds Company Egregiously Violated NLRA
(SAN FRANCISCO) – The Teamsters are applauding a recent finding by Administrative Law Judge John T. Giannopoulos concerning the behavior of CEMEX, one of the largest ready-mix concrete distributers in the world, during a 2019 union election. Judge Giannopoulos found that the company committed 23 violations of workers’ rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
“The company’s behavior during this election was abhorrent and we feel vindicated now that they are being held accountable,” said Bubba Davis, Teamsters Building Materials and Construction Trade Division Director. “This company threatened, harassed, surveilled, intimidated and deceived its own workers with rampant illegality in order to disrupt their union organizing campaign. CEMEX even hired security guards to stand outside of the voting locations as a form of suppression. We look forward to this process playing out again, this time without terrorization or chicanery, just like it should have in the first place.”
In his decision, Judge Giannopoulos found that the union’s witnesses to be credible, while the company’s witnesses were not. Most notably, he found that the company manufactured false reasoning for terminating Diana Ornelas – a union supporter and one of the only women employed as a driver at the company (of over 300 throughout Las Vegas and Southern California).
“While getting wrongfully terminated was horrible experience, I feel empowered knowing that my coworkers and I stood up to a multinational corporation that spent ungodly sums of money to defeat us in litigation and we still came out on top,” Ornelas said. “We still have a long way to go, but today is a momentous occasion and it just goes to show that when we fight, we win.”
The decision can be read at its entirety at http://jointeam.io/CEMEXALJ.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.
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