A federal judge has ruled that Woodford Reserve undermined unionization efforts at its Kentucky distillery by awarding pay raises, relaxing its vacation policy and handing out bottles of whiskey to workers before a vote on whether to unionize.
FILE - In this photo taken on April 8, 2009, guide Dave Salyers describes the bourbon making process to a group touring the Woodford Reserve distillery in Versailles, Ky. The Kentucky distillery has been ordered to bargain with a local Teamsters union after a federal labor law judge ruled that the prominent bourbon producer undermined efforts by its worker to unionize.
The company said it took each of the actions in question for legitimate business reasons that were unrelated to the union campaign. But the judge disagreed, saying the company engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. The company failed to prove that the pay raise, relaxed vacation policy and whiskey giveaway would have occurred in the absence of the union campaign, he said.
“This is a clear cut example of unlawful interference in what should have been a free and fair election," Lance said in a statement."We hope this serves as a deterrent to other employers, who will hopefully think twice before they violate federal labor laws.” Ahead of the election, distillery managers told employees they would receive a $4 per hour across-the-board pay raise. Workers started seeing the increase on their paychecks about a week before the election. Once the pay raise was announced, employee interest in the union waned, the judge noted.
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