This week, 22 truck stop workers at the Pilot-Flying J Truck Stop in Bloomsbury, NJ won representation with RWDSU Local 108. This decisive organizing victory – in addition to providing workers with a seat at the table and an opportunity to improve their working conditions – delivered a moment of poetic justice.
The company is owned by Jimmy Haslam, the brother of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, who was recently in the news for his vicious and unscrupulous campaign to undermine organizing efforts at the Chattanooga, TN Volkswagen plant. While this victory does not make up for the hundreds of workers in Tennessee whose organizing attempts were brought down by shameful political interference, it hopefully sends a message to Governor Haslam and other anti-union politicians, that when they pick a fight with workers in Tennessee, they are picking a fight with workers around the country.
Bill Ludwig, an employee who helped lead the effort to organize the Bloomsbury truck stop had the following to say about the campaign: “Companies will stop at nothing to fight unions and employees from organizing. Spin doctoring, harassment and flat out lies are tactics used. Yet they claim they are trying to educate you about unions, all while bashing. I was confident that we would win because people were tired of not being treated with respect. We were being taken for granted while the company made millions.”
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is proud to welcome to our union family all the employees at the Bloomsbury Pilot-Flying J Truck Stop, who include gas station attendants, cashiers, stockers, maintenance workers, and coffee hosts. We also once again congratulate RWDSU Local 108 for their continued efforts to grow the labor movement and to bring justice and respect to the workplace.