In 2014, Electrolux Plant Manager George Robbins (left) and President and CEO of Electrolux Major Appliances North America Jack Truong give Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (third from left) a tour of the newly opened Electrolux plant Thursday morning. Local goverment representitives, Electrolux executives and the media were given a behind-the-scenes look at the city's newest manufacturing facility. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal File)

SHARE Electrolux issues its quarterly earnings report, which has significance to Memphis now the new plant is running.

By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

Employees at the Electrolux appliance factory in Memphis handed organized labor a big victory Tuesday.

By a margin of more than 2 to 1, workers voted for representation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local 474 business manager Paul Shaffer said.

The $190 million Electrolux plant in a southwest Memphis industrial park is one of the area's largest economic development projects of the decade. It was dedicated in early 2014.

Electrolux moved the high-end kitchen appliance factory to Memphis from a unionized facility in Canada, drawn in part by incentives and the prospect of lower labor costs.

Announced in late 2010, the project subsequently won more than $150 million in public incentives, mostly from the state, in addition to a 15-year partial freeze of city and county property taxes.

The union vote came about 16 months after another effort failed in May 2015.

Shaffer said about 650 employees cast ballots this time, and the union plans to begin negotiations on a labor contract once election results are certified.

“We look forward to working with them to come to an agreement that’s mutually beneficial to both sides,” Shaffer said. “They’re a good company and we want to keep them here.”

Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale released this statement: “In accordance with our Code of Conduct, we believe every employee has the right to vote yes or no to a union. We will continue being focused on achieving operational efficiency and competitiveness.”

Shaffer said the effort to win another vote began almost as soon as the union was defeated in 2015.

After that vote, European union activists contended Swedish-owned Electrolux failed to follow a policy of neutrality on employee efforts to unionize. Electrolux denied the claim and cited different traditions in the U.S. and Europe regarding union organization in the workplace.

Electrolux, located in Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park, was responsible for nearly 1,400 jobs as of Dec. 31, 2015, according to the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) of Memphis and Shelby County. The company committed to create 1,240 jobs as part of the tax freeze agreement.

The EDGE's 2015 compliance report said Electrolux Memphis had 833 hourly employees, 77 salaried employees and 483 vendor employees from providers including Randstad, Aerotek and Robert Half.