CWA Local 7250

Rove Pest Control Bargaining update – Report #40 6/24/25

Since the majority of the bargaining unit is now part of the bargaining meetings and/or writing proposals that we submit to the company, we have gotten away from regular bargaining reports.

There was nothing notable to report outside the DECERTIFIICATION DEFEAT until now. Here’s how the company prepped for the NLRB election:

-Hired new workers into the customer service call center in hopes they would vote out the Union.

-The one original NO vote for the union was the person nearly exclusively doing all new hire training.

-One pro-union worker, was transferred into the call center, had an active unrelated lawsuit against Rove… as part of the settlement agreement, the pro-union worker had to resign.

-Allowed three new hires to come to work whenever they wanted. They were not made to be on a fixed schedule like the rest of the bargaining unit.

-Management asked new hires about their coworkers who didn’t sign the decertification petition. (upper management denies knowledge of this illegal action)

-Laid off the one new hire who refused to sign the decertification petition

The company was in disbelief when the Union was certified 3 to 1 with 2 ballots not marked. The Union was once again certified. Subsequently, the flexible schedules afforded to the new hires prior to the vote were revoked, and the workers ended up quitting.

We are approaching the end of our 19th month of bargaining. We have moved to only meeting once per week with the company as the exchange of proposals has decreased.

Yesterday the company hit the bargaining unit workers and Union Leadership with a gut punch. The company sold off the majority of its business, 4 states, and nearly all of the workers to another pest control company.

The only workers remaining at Rove are the MN Call Center workers, the sales person, and pest control technicians who service customers in Arizona.

CWA 7250 will be entering into effects bargaining over these changes starting next week, and we will continue to bargain our first contract at Rove Pest Control as we enter into our 20th month of bargaining.

We finally reached a TA on wages and differentials, moving the company to regular and reliable wage increases for the bargaining unit (though modest), with the potential for more substantial bonuses based on performance and skill acquisition.

We look forward to making additional progress and finally reaching a tentative agreement in the near future.

Submitted,

CWA 7250 Bargaining team at Rove

Co-Chair: Bruce Nielsen & Shari Wojtowicz

Members: Greg Bute, Hector Capote

Alternate: Zach Sager