Nearly 9,000 workers at Pillowtex are members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

Two days before the company's declaration, UNITE held meetings here to discuss just such a possibility. Similar meetings were held for Pillowtex workers in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The meetings were open to both union members and workers who have not joined the union. Two sessions were held so any worker could attend, regardless of their shift.

The Concord meetings had a combined attendance of about 300 workers from five plants in the area, including the sprawling Fieldcrest Cannon plant in nearby Kannapolis, and were widely talked about on the job over the next couple of days. Many workers coming out of the meeting seemed relieved by the approach projected by union representatives that the union would be playing an active role by working with the courts and the company through the expected bankruptcy proceedings.

A handful were not convinced. Pat Mitchell, who works at Plant no. 16, raised with a group of co-workers her opinion that the company would not deliver wages and pensions, with or without the bankruptcy court. "How could anyone have any faith in this company? I do not know," she said. "We are workers. We should have the right to know about our livelihoods."

Over the past year-and-a-half workers at several Pillowtex plants won elections to be represented by UNITE, starting with the June 1999 historic victory at the Fieldcrest Cannon plants in this region after a 25-year fight and several votes. Pillowtex bought Fieldcrest Cannon in 1997. Elboyd Deal, a veteran of the organizing drives who is now retired, said the union victories are important because "after being employed 37 years at Fieldcrest-Cannon I retired on a pension of $65 per month. That is why we need a union."

In the wake of the victory in Kannapolis, Pillowtex workers in Scottsboro, Alabama, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina, were able to rapidly win union votes in May and June of this year.

Kathy Venable, a union member in Scottsboro, said the "main reason why people voted for the union was fairness and respect. We've been done wrong so much and we couldn't do anything about it. But with the union now we'll be able to."

One of the Rocky Mount workers, interviewed in the UNITE magazine on the union victory there, said, "People weren't treated fairly. If your supervisor likes you, you get a raise. If they don't, you don't.... The $5.95 an hour was an issue" he said, referring to the company's base pay there.

Recently there have been a number of closures of textile plants in this area, including a Pillowtex sheet manufacturing plant in Salisbury, North Carolina. Many of the workers who attended the Concord meeting described how they are on short time and have had to get a second job to make ends meet. "I work 12 hours in the mill and then go to my other job," said Laura Simpson, who has worked in Plant No. 4 in Kannapolis. "I've been in the mill my whole adult life. Now if a loom goes down the company does not buy the parts to repair it." The company has announced it will close its Rocky Mount plant in June 2001.

At the same time, the bosses are pushing for increased productivity. At one of the meetings here workers in one of the weave rooms in the Kannapolis plant said they are currently circulating a petition against arbitrary disciplinary action against workers for not meeting productivity quotas.

Dean Hazlewood is a member of UNITE Local 1501 at Pillowtex in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Arlene Rubinstein from Atlanta contributed to this article.  
 
 
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