Mountaire Farms processing plant workers have voted to oust the labor union that represents them in Selbyville, Del.
They voted 356 to 80 last week to remove the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 after a failed attempt to decertify the union.
Mail-in ballots were counted last week at the National Labor Relations Board office in Baltimore. The vote is expected to be certified on Wednesday.
"After 44 years of union representation, the Selbyville plant takes a huge step forward today," Mountaire President Phillip Plylar said in a written statement Friday. "Our employees have just been asking for their voices to be heard, and today, they were heard loud and clear."
The Selbyville plant, which processes fresh chicken products, is the only Mountaire facility where unions are present.
Last summer, employees asked for decertification but were denied the option over a technicality, Mountaire said. The union filed several challenges and the board threw out a previous vote made by workers in the summer of 2020. A worker petition filed in October to remove the union gave employees another chance to vote.
Mountaire Corp. and its subsidiaries have operations along the East Coast and offices in Arkansas, where the company was founded.