A fired union supporter, security guards at polls, and fabricated testimony sealed the outcome
A federal appeals court has upheld an order forcing Cemex to bargain with the Teamsters – even though its employees voted against unionization.
On April 21, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Cemex Construction Materials Pacific's challenge to a National Labor Relations Board decision and granted the Board's request to enforce its order. The ruling caps a years-long legal battle over how the company handled a union organizing drive among roughly 366 ready-mix drivers and driver trainers at approximately 24 facilities across Southern California and Las Vegas.
The backstory matters. In late 2018, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters collected authorization cards from at least 207 drivers – about 57 percent of the bargaining unit. The union petitioned for a Board-supervised election, which took place on March 7, 2019. Employees voted 179 to 166 against union representation. Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of it. But what Cemex did in the months surrounding that vote changed everything.
The NLRB found that the company ran a coordinated anti-union campaign that crossed well beyond the boundaries of lawful employer conduct. A foreman made coercive statements to drivers. Managers surveilled employees at one plant and created an atmosphere of being watched. A vice president told workers during a meeting that annual...
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