R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. production and maintenance workers prepare to vote this week on representation

All's quiet on the union frontlines as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. production and maintenance workers prepare to vote this week on representation from two groups.

A joint petition was filed Sept. 12 with the National Labor Relations Board by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

Since Reynolds acknowledged the petition filing Sept. 27, there has been little, if any, rhetoric and name-calling from either side or public protests. Reynolds employees supporting the effort have not contacted the Winston-Salem Journal to state their case.

A secret-ballot vote will take place at the Tobaccoville and Whitaker Park plants, starting Thursday at noon and ending Friday at 2:30 a.m. According to Reynolds, about 1,320 employees are eligible to vote. For the unions to win, they need to receive a majority of the votes cast, not a majority of eligible voters.

Maura Payne, a Reynolds spokeswoman, said a preliminary count is expected to be provided by the labor board Friday morning.

It is the third union-certification campaign at Reynolds in six years. The company won elections by a significant margin in March 2005 and May 2006.

During the May 2006 campaign, union officials accused Reynolds of "a vicious anti-union campaign designed to intimidate employees into voting against union representation."

This time around, the unions are content to leave the talking up to employees.

"Every company is different, and those employees who went through the 2005 and 2006 campaigns know what company management is going to do and say," said John Price, an international representative for the bakery union.

"They've seen what 'No' union votes have led to in the past five years. We believe, and they believe, it is going to be a close vote, and the supporters are feeling confident."

The company has conducted employee meetings and resurrected its www.reynoldspride.com website to promote its anti-union message.

In an Oct. 12 letter to employees, Daan Delen, Reynolds' chief executive and president, acknowledged that the union effort "already has been a distraction that has stolen time and focus away from strengthening our business."

Still, the quietness "is a bit unusual" for union campaigns in North Carolina, said David Zonderman, a history professor at N.C. State University and an expert in union and labor law.

"There may be several reasons for that," Zonderman said. "A stable workforce tends to be more likely not to vote for union representation. There may be an understanding on both sides that they don't need to throw gasoline on the fire.

"Reynolds also keeps as a priority preventing any union spillover effect with their wage and benefit plans."

Price said Reynolds chooses to keep production salaries at or near the rate paid to union workers at Lorillard Inc. and Philip Morris USA to make unions less enticing to employees. Payne said the average salary and bonus is $70,195 for eligible employees.

Price said many of the union supporters are older, putting more of their focus on the company's pension plan and retiree health and other benefits. "They say they want to do all they can to preserve their full-time jobs while they can," he said.

Since December 2009, 445 manufacturing employees have accepted voluntary-departure offers from Reynolds. The company's primary reasons for the downsizing were the continuing decline in demand for cigarettes nationwide and higher efficiency gains from consolidating production at its Whitaker Park operations into Tobaccoville.

Price said another worker concern is the firing of 23 employees this year. Payne said they were fired "for violating company policies" that she declined to discuss.

Delen accused the union organizers of having as their main goals "propping up their plunging membership and dues income." Payne said that at $840 for each employee in union dues, they would take in nearly $1.1 million annually just from Reynolds.

One potential twist in the latest effort is that a significant number of Reynolds production employees have been union members for another tobacco company.

Price said 400 production workers transferred to Reynolds from the unionized Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. plant in Macon, Ga., as part of Reynolds' $2.6 billion purchase in 2004. He said about 200 remain in the production workforce.

"As opposed to the 2005 and 2006 votes, where these former B&W workers may have been leery of making waves with their new employer, they likely feel more secure in their jobs and willing to vote for the unions," Price said.

Delen told employees "now is not the time to hamper our ability to keep fighting to sustain and grow our business."