Hearthside worker urges pro-union bill

Hearthside Food Solutions, in McComb, has bullied, harassed and humiliated workers, an employee testified Thursday before U.S. senators. Gracie Heldman, of Pandora, appearing before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, urged passage of a bill to strengthen workers' rights to unionize. The bill has been proposed by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Three times in the past 20 years, Hearthside workers' efforts to organize — with 60%, even 65%, of workers signing union cards — were upended by law-breaking, union-busting tactics, Heldman said in her testimony. Brown's bill would have prevented Hearthside from delaying the union elections, lying about the union and intimidating workers, she said. Brown's bill also would have brought stiffer penalties on the company for firing union supporters, she said. Hearthside, formerly Consolidated Biscuit, makes brand-name cookies and crackers. The plant, which runs 24/7, has over 1,000 employees. "Working in a huge industrial bakery is hard work. The hours are long and the pain can be really bad, especially in your wrist, shoulders, back," Heldman told the Senate panel. "The company does not take health and safety seriously. So it's not really surprising the McComb bakery has been cited by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) many times and it is one of the worst offenders in Ohio." Hearthside faces $262,169 in federal penalties for alleged safety violations after two employees suffered finger amputations in 2019. The company is contesting the safety agency's allegations. This is not Hearthside's first brush with OSHA. "Hearthside Foods has a history of OSHA violations for machine hazards," Toledo OSHA Area Director Kimberly Nelson said last year. "Employers have a responsibility to train and protect workers from such hazards in their facilities." Hearthside also was cited and fined by OSHA in 2017 and 2018 for exposing workers to amputation injury. "Amputations are preventable when employers comply with machine guarding and lockout/tagout standards, as required by law," said Loren Sweatt, principal deputy assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health. Strip search When an employee found bedbugs in some cases at the factory a couple of years ago, supervisors coerced female workers to strip, Heldman told senators. "The supervisors made a whole line of women march into their offices, where we were told to strip so a nurse could examine us for bedbugs," she said. "If we would refuse, we would be punished, sent home without pay and possibly fired. So we stayed in line and stripped" — Heldman's voice trembled and became high pitched as she spoke — "so we could be searched." "It was humiliating." "The next day, rumors spread about women in their 'granny pants' going around the plant," Heldman said. "It could only have come from supervisors. This was such a degrading experience that I will never forget." Coronavirus cluster Last year, Heldman and others made their third bid to organize. She said that 60% of 1,200 Hearthside workers signed union cards. Workers' stress levels were high because of the pandemic, Heldman told senators. "More than 30 workers contracted the coronavirus during the spring and summer of 2020, so we were all worried," she said. The company seemed to be only worried about preventing workers from organizing, she said. "Just like the previous (unionizing) elections, the company hired union busters who spent three months trying to put fear into the workforce," Heldman said. "This time, they really focused on my Hispanic coworkers. Again, many were threatened with deportation if the union was voted in." Employees were crammed tightly into anti-union meetings with the pandemic raging. "They set up a big tent outside the plant to make it look like we would be safe. Then they squeezed more than 150 of us inside the tent, seating us side by side less than 2 feet apart," she said. "Once again, they threatened loss of wages and benefits if we voted for the union." "Even though people were scared, I really thought we had a shot to win this election. But the company had scared the workers so bad that we were never really given a fair chance to make a decision about joining the BCTGM (Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union)," Heldman said. "We got closer than ever before in this election, but it was not enough against the company's actions. "For over 20 years we have fought to join the BCTGM. For over 20 years I have seen the law look the other way. Nothing protected our right to join a union," she said. "And the worst part of it all is that the company knew that. They knew they could do whatever they wanted and at worst, they'd get a slap on the wrist. I'm just one worker who wants to join a union. But there are millions more like me. We just want a fair chance." Brown said his Protecting the Right to Organize Act would: • Improve remedies for workers and punish companies that violate workers' rights. • Strengthen workers' rights to join and negotiate for better working conditions. • Close loopholes that allow employers to misclassify their employees as supervisors and independent contractors. Wilin: 419-427-8413