A union ended ties with truck drivers of a Werner Enterprises subsidiary earlier this month.
New Jersey-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152 union disassociated itself from workers at ECM Transport, according to the union and the nonprofit National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The union, certified last year as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative for the group, was seeking to obtain a labor contract for 14 workers across three sites in New Jersey. Werner acquired a majority stake in the transportation provider in 2021.
In August 2023, workers agreed through a 17-8 vote to be represented by UFCW Local 152. But less than a year later, that unionization sentiment appears to have shifted.
ECM Transport has a fleet of nearly 500 drivers, and Werner, historically immune to organized labor, praised the outcome.
UFCW was working to establish the first contract but nothing had been finalized, VP and Director of Organizing Mike Thompson said.
“This company did not want to have to deal with a union,” he said.
Earlier this month, ECM Transport worker Joseph Smith filed paperwork to decertify the union, according to the right-to-work nonprofit, which assisted with the filing.
Subsequently, UFCW Local 152 severed ties as the exclusive collective bargaining representative. The union did not want to put workers in difficult spots by going through a decertification vote when the outcome was clear, Thompson said.
