SELBYVILLE, DEL. –  Workers at the Mountaire Farms in Selbyville, Del., voted by a large majority, 356-80, to no longer be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 27.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office counted votes on Dec. 16. The certification of the votes is expected to be official by Dec. 23. 

“After 44 years of union representation, the Selbyville plant takes a huge step forward today,” said Phillip Plylar, president of Mountaire Farms. “Our employees have just been asking for their voices to be heard, and today, they were heard loud and clear.”

Mountaire said that an employee-led petition in October was accepted by the NLRB, which is set in motion to let employees remove the UFCW as their representative. Mail-in ballots were then sent out to employees in November. 

In summer 2020, Mountaire said employees asked for the decertification of its UFCW chapter but were denied on a technicality. A mail-in ballot was held but the union filed numerous challenges. Eventually, the NLRB threw out the vote without counting it. Fall 2021 was the next opportunity for employees to ask for an election.  

Mountaire Farms said its Selbyville location is the only processing plant owned by the company where there are unions, which have been part of this plant since it was purchased in 1977.