WQXE News
Workers in favor of unionizing at BlueOval SK appear to be on their way to victory, but the decision could still swing Either way.
According to a statement from the company Thursday, the results of the National Labor Relations Board election this week stand at 526 yes votes, 515 no votes, and 41 challenged ballots.
BlueOval SK said in the statement: “BlueOval SK will urge the board to count each eligible vote because every voice matters. We remain focused on the safety and wellbeing of our team and our commitment to build best-in-class batteries together! “
United Auto Workers in a release described the 41 challenged ballots as “illegitimate” and represent “an employer tactic to flood the unit and undermine the outcome.” UAW said in the release: “We will fight these challenges to defend the democratic choices of these workers, as we always do when corporations try to interfere with workers’ democratic choice. The challenged ballots are not part of the group of workers who built their union from the bottom up. They deserve to have their own union, in an appropriate bargaining unit with a representative of their own choosing.”
BlueOval SK’s Kentucky One plant officially began battery production on August 19.
Due to extremely dry conditions of ground cover, LaRue County Judge/Executive Blake Durrett has issued a burn ban for the unincorporated area of the county.
“As listed, it is no fire for recreational or ceremonial purposes, so those are your backyard fire pits or barbecues,” Durrett said. “No fire set for construction purposes, so you know how people would burn construction debris. No weed abatement, so no controlled burns for weed control. No fire training. No ag purposes. No burning of leaves. We’re not that far into the year where leaves are dropping, but obviously that’s not okay, and then some people burn their trash, so no disposal of rubbish by fire and things of that nature.”
Durrett said he issued the burn ban after hearing from the chiefs of the county’s volunteer fire companies.
The city of Hodgenville has also issued a burn ban. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet says LaRue is one of 25 Kentucky counties with burn bans currently in place.
Students at Elizabethtown and Central Hardin high schools have been engaged in a friendly competition between schools and grades this week.
“Whichever grade brings in the most food gets popsicles, so that obviously gets a lot of kids to bring in stuff,” said EHS senior Rachel Bell. “I know a lot of freshmen have brought it in, and it’s become overall a competition that was cool to see who can bring in the most food.”
That’s EHS Senior Rachel Bell. Bell said she got the idea for the food drive while participating in the Morehead State University Governor’s Scholars Program this past summer.
“We did a food drive for my focus area in the last week of GSP, and everyone donated their snacks and stuff, so it kind of got me thinking that I wanted to do the same thing in my community because it really bonded us all as a community at GSP,” Bell said.
The winners will be announced during halftime of Friday’s Central versus E-Town football game.