Fired Wife, Husband
Offered Reinstatement
At Moderne Glass
ALIQUIPPA, Pa.
A husband and wife fired from a factory in nearby Hopewell Township during
a UE organizing drive last summer will be offered reinstatement to their former positions
as part of a settlement reached earlier this month by Region 6 of the National Labor
Relations Board, the union and Moderne Glass Company, Inc.
In addition to reinstatement, Amy Heizler will be awarded $6,000 in back
wages. Her husband, Dan Heizler, who found employment soon after the discharge, will not
receive wage reimbursement.
'Pledge to Refrain
From Illegal Conduct'
As part of the settlement, the company agrees to post a NLRB notice
pledging to refrain from the illegal conduct alleged by the union and to expunge
references to the termination from the Heizlers’ personnel records.
UE filed a petition for a representation election in May 1997, with a
majority of the firm’s 180 production and maintenance employees indicating support
for the union. However, the union withdrew a week before the scheduled July 10 election
because the company’s threats of plant closure, surveillance of employees’ union
activities and intimidation of union supporters had made a fair election impossible.
The Heizlers were fired because of their response to company intimidation
at a pre-election captive audience meeting. At that mandatory meeting the company
president Tom McKnight singled out Dan Heizler while verbally abusing the union and its
supporters. Amy Heizler burst into tears; both then left the facility and their employment
was terminated.
The union organizing campaign at Moderne Glass is "ongoing." say
UE staff based in District Six. Moderne Glass does custom and commercial silk screening of
ceramics and glassware. The Heizlers live in Chester, W.Va.
