The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) lost the election by a vote of 452 to 375 and subsequently charged the company with 41 violations of federal labor law in its antiunion campaign. The vote was part of an effort by the UFCW to organize the 4,000 meat packers in the area who labor in mostly nonunion plants.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing officer Francis Molenda agreed with seven of the union's complaints. These include charges that the company interrogated workers concerning their support for the union, threatened job losses, stricter enforcement of work rules, and changes in working conditions if the union won the election.

Fourteen workers from the plant testified at a six-day hearing on the charges held at the federal courthouse in Omaha in October. Molenda recommended that a new election be organized.

Soon after the decision was made public, supporters of the union in the plant held a meeting to begin mapping out their plan to win the next election. On January 10 they handed out leaflets in the locker rooms and lunch room, announcing "Good news from the Nebraska Beef organizing committee!" The leaflets provoked a widespread discussion among workers in the plant about the need for a union.

Many workers also began wearing pro-union stickers on their hard hats. One of the union complaints that was upheld by the hearing officer, Molenda, was that the company forced workers in the kill department to remove pro-union stickers on the day before the election.

The company has filed "exceptions" to the hearing officer's findings with the regional NLRB office in Kansas City, asking the labor board to overturn the opinion.

Workers at several other meatpacking plants in the area are following these developments closely. Union representation cards are being circulated at most plants in the area in a lead-up to representation elections later this year.  
 
 
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