Hoosier Manufacturing

In 2022, the WRC investigated complaints of retaliatory dismissal of 25 workers who allegedly attempted to form a union in April 2021, as well as the dismissal of three workers in October 2021 in violation of a legal protective order.

In the case of the 25 workers fired in April 2021, the WRC determined that, while these workers claimed they were trying to unionize before they were fired, this was not actually the case. Instead, these workers merely pretended to try to unionize, in order to prompt management to terminate them in retaliation—which it did. In the case of the three workers who were dismissed in October 2021, the WRC found that these dismissals violated a protective writ that was in place in the factory prohibiting the dismissals.

Given the circumstances of the dismissals, the WRC found that the factory had violated freedom of association standards and that the appropriate remedy was reinstatement for all 28 workers but payment of back wages only for the workers dismissed in October 2021. The factory complied with the WRC’s recommendations, which also included an announcement to all workers committing to respect freedom of association and retaining an ombudsperson to help resolve any labor-management disputes between the company and its workforce.

Read more:

• WRC Case Brief: Hoosier Manufacturing (Guatemala) – May 27, 2022