Iowa gelatin manufacturer agrees to rehire seven employees

NLRB settlement also provides full backpay to union supporters
Gelita USA Inc., a manufacturer of gelatin products based in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, has agreed to rehire seven employees and provide about $90,000 in backpay and medical expenses to settle a case that would have gone to administrative hearing next week.
The seven employees were fired between June and September of 2010, nearly a year after employees voted to decertify the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which had briefly represented them. A preliminary NLRB investigation found that the employees received lower performance evaluations and were eventually fired because of their continuing union sympathies, and that they were told they would only receive severance payments if they agreed to not cooperate with the NLRB.
NLRB Attorneys Florence Brammer and Abby Schneider negotiated the settlement for the agency.
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the authority to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have a union as their collective bargaining representative, and to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.