Teamsters end Bean union push

FREEPORT – The Teamsters have given up their effort to organize workers at L.L. Bean after a petition drive fizzled and the company improved working conditions, a union representative said.

L.L. Bean has given 10 percent bonuses to employees and clarified policies, as well as giving regular hours and status to seasonal employees who work at the company most of the time, said Bill Turkewitz, business agent for the Local 340 in South Portland.

In the end, many of the changes adopted by the company were the same ones sought by the union, Turkewitz said.

“Bean is now doing the right thing by its employees,” he said. But, he added, “We’re still keeping an eye on things.”

A year ago, there was a flurry of activity to unionize more than 300 full-time employees who qualified for union representation.

A meeting was held at the South Portland union hall, with discussion centering around benefits, retirement plans, temporary workers and job security.

To form a union, 30 percent of the L.L. Bean work force had to sign petitions for the Teamsters to send to the National Labor Relations Board. The company would then have been forced to hold a vote on whether to form a union.

The company maintained all along that its benefits package and wages were competitive and accused the Teamsters of trying to scare L.L. Bean employees.

Company spokesman Rich Donaldson said he’s relieved the union drive appears to be over. Only certain segments of the 4,200 regular employees were targeted, he said, primarily those on hourly salary in telemarketing and in the warehouse. During peak times, such as Christmas, L.L. Bean hires about 10,000 people.

Donaldson said the issue of seasonal workers who had unpredictable hours has been resolved. Those workers are now on regular hours, he said.

Bonus payments last year totaled $25 million, on top of wages and benefit increases of more than $15 million in the past three years, he said.