Workers at Lehigh County chassis maker Westport Axle vote against unionizing

Workers at Westport Axle's Lehigh County plant have turned down an effort at unionizing.

By a 169-126 vote Friday, assembly employees at the Upper Macungie Township chassis plant rejected a petition by the United Auto Workers Union Local 677 to organize, said Harold Maier, assistant regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Philadelphia.

The company makes chassis for Mack Trucks at a plant near Mack's manufacturing facility in Lower Macungie Township.

A company official declined Tuesday to comment on the vote. Officials with Local 677 could not be reached Tuesday and previously had declined to comment on the effort.

Local 677 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Oct. 14 seeking to represent about 300 Westport workers, said Harold Maier, NLRB assistant regional director in Philadelphia. The petition excluded other employees, including clerical, office and temporary assembly workers.

Westport opened its body-framework assembly plant in June 2012 at 650 Boulder Drive near Route 100. It moved to the Lehigh Valley from Lancaster.

Last year Westport, which is based in Louisville, Ky., became a subsidiary of Universal Truckload Services Inc. of Warren, Mich., according to Westport's website.

Maier said the NLRB still must certify the vote total, which will not be made final until next week.

Source The Morning Call