Union Bid Rebuffed at ITT Cannon : Labor: Local 652 staged the most aggressive organizing effort in Orange County in 20 years.

SANTA ANA —  The biggest labor organizing effort in Orange County in two decades ended in crushing defeat Wednesday, when workers at an ITT Cannon electronics plant rejected union representation by more than 5 to 1.

Workers voted 786 to 141 against representation by the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 652. About 90% of the company’s 1,041 eligible workers voted in the election, which capped an eight-month organizing effort.

Dave Myers, personnel director for ITT Cannon’s Military/Aerospace division in Santa Ana, hailed the outcome as an endorsement of the company efforts to work with employees during difficult economic times.

“The management of ITT Cannon is gratified by the vote of confidence our employees demonstrated today,” he said in a statement.

Ruben L. Gomez, secretary-treasurer for Local 652, said he was disappointed at the outcome but gratified that the issue was put to a vote. He said the union campaign sought to address workers’ concerns about low wages, working conditions, management-labor cooperation and job security.

“I guess this shows workers are satisfied with their jobs,” he said. “I think we would do this over again, and I think the company will pay more attention to its people because of this campaign.”

The division, a unit of New York-based ITT Corp., makes electronic connectors for the military at a plant on Dyer Road. The plant moved to Santa Ana in 1957, and an electricians’ union tried unsuccessfully to organize it in the early 1970s.

The latest union campaign was prompted by layoffs at the plant during the past year. In response, the company conducted its own anti-union campaign in meetings with employees that included videos that discussed the negative aspects of unions.

“The employees approached us at first,” Gomez said, “but I think in the end they became afraid for their jobs.”

Times have been tough for companies in ITT Cannon’s industry. A Santa Ana competitor, Interconnection Products Inc., abruptly closed this fall and dismissed 180 employees after a dispute with lenders.

“Like many other suppliers, we were hurt by the cutback in defense spending and the recession,” said Sandra Wood, an ITT spokeswoman.

Wood dismissed union claims that employees are underpaid, saying the charge is “absolutely inaccurate” and that wages are comparable with other defense contractors in the area. In some cases, she said, wages are “superior to the union compensation package.”

Union officials had said that the primary issue was “not so much wages but job security.” They contended that working conditions are unsafe and that employees have been burned by chemicals.

ITT Cannon officials have denied those claims.

The Laborers Union, which has 500,000 members, has been trying for the past five years to diversify away from representing unskilled workers in the construction business, which is in a severe slump. The union has focused its organizing efforts on public employees and hospital and aerospace workers.

In Orange County, the union has 5,000 members, mostly among public employees and maintenance workers, Gomez said. He said the union won’t make another attempt at ITT Cannon for at least a year, and then only if employees request it.

The company has another plant in Santa Ana that is not unionized, as well as plants in Phoenix and Minnesota that are not unionized. A Canadian plant, however, does have a union, according to the company.

Times staff writer Michael Flagg contributed to this story.