NLRB complaint filed over union vote at Tate's cookie factory  

A union has challenged the results of an organizing vote at Tate's Bake Shop, accusing the Long Island cookie maker of unfair intimidation tactics, including telling workers they'd be deported if they unionized.

Workers voted 354 to 12 against joining the union, Amalgamated Local 298 in Valley Stream, according to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversaw the mail-in voting and counted the ballots last week.

Tate’s, which has manufacturing facilities in East Moriches and warehouses in Southampton, hailed the election results and denied the claims of worker intimidation.

"We have confidence in the process and know the vote accurately reflects the will of the employees who value their direct engagement with Tate’s management," the company said Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the union filed objections to the election with the NLRB.

In the filing, the union alleges that Tate's managers and representatives told employees "to bring their unsealed ballots into work with them and informed employees that if they did not bring in their ballots and give them to employer then the employer would know they are voting for the union and after six (6) months they would be fired."

"We feel very strongly that once [the NLRB investigates our objections] … we will get a second election," said Cosmo Lubrano, business agent for Amalgamated Local 298 and vice president for the Eastern States Joint Board, an umbrella organization under which the Local 298 falls.

Tate's Objections by Newsday on Scribd

A Tate’s employee who supports unionizing said the vote results were overwhelmingly against organizing because Tate’s management used fear tactics against workers.

"When I heard the results [of the election], I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘How can that be possible?’" the employee, who is a native of El Salvador, said in Spanish in a phone interview.

"I know of at least 16 people, other employees who I’m close with, who were advocating for the union, and many others who said they were voting for the union, too. It’s very suspicious to me. … The numbers don’t make sense."

Tate's, which was bought by Chicago-based snack food company Mondelēz International Inc. for $500 million in 2018, denied the union’s allegations of election interference, and said it respects workers' right to vote to unionize.

"These accusations are categorically false and continue a pattern of accusations, fabrications and misrepresentations made against Tate’s by the union’s leadership throughout their campaign. The truth is that employees voted in a free and fair NLRB-conducted election, and by an overwhelmingly decisive margin ... chose not to unionize," the company said.

The NLRB mailed ballots to eligible Tate’s workers March 26, and the deadline for completed ballots to be received by the agency was April 21. The NLRB counted ballots May 13.

Whether the NLRB certifies the election results will depend on whether it finds merit to the union's objections.

The agency still is investigating complaints of unfair labor practices that Amalgamated Local 298 filed in March against Tate’s, an NLRB spokesman said Tuesday. At that time, the union said some workers reported that company managers and their representatives had forced employees to sign petitions against unionizing or risk losing their benefits, told workers who supported the union that they would be fired six months after a vote to join a union, and sent company "spies" to employee meetings offsite where unionizing was being discussed.

The union also alleged in March and again in the objections filed Wednesday that Tate's falsely told workers that if they join Amalgamated Local 298, the union would investigate their immigration status and that could lead to deportations for undocumented workers.

Tate's denies those allegations. The company adheres to immigration law requirements, including use of Form I-9, a spokeswoman told Newsday in March.

The form is a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services document that is used to identify and verify employment authorization for all paid workers hired in the country.

Founded in 2000, Tate’s employs about 450 people, 96% of whom work at the East Moriches factory, Anthony Miranti, delegate with the Eastern States Joint Board, told Newsday in March. Most of Tate's employees are natives of Central American countries, such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, Tate’s employees told Newsday.

With Daysi Calavia-Robertson

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.