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Eleven years after workers at a local manufacturing company elected to join a labor union, the National Labor Relations Board has thrown out their vote and ordered a new one.

The decision was a victory for Randell Warehouse of Arizona Inc., 5901 S. Belvedere Ave., which challenged the election by claiming the union, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association Local 359, intimidated and threatened its employees.

The NLRB, which administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act, ruled union agents wrongly coerced the workers when they photographed them accepting or rejecting union campaign materials outside the factory.

The union maintains its agents were taking photos for marketing and planned to use the shots in its newsletters, said Marco Molina, a business representative for the Sheet Metal Workers.

The union had been campaigning to represent about 145 workers at Randell, where the workers make stainless steel equipment, such as salad bars, for the food industry, Molina said. Randell is part of Jackson, Miss.-based Unified Brands, which is owned by Dover Corp.

In the 1995 election, the workers voted in favor of union representation, but the case has been hung up in the legal process ever since.

In its July 26 decision, the labor board said the union photographed workers without clearly explaining why.

"The photographing reasonably tended to interfere with employee free choice," because some workers might think the photos could be used against them if they didn't side with the union, according to the ruling.

The 3-2 decision reversed the board's 1999 decision, when it overturned precedent by saying the photographing was not wrong because it wasn't part of a larger plan to coerce workers. However, the same rule didn't apply to employers, whose photographing was against the rules regardless of intent.

The dissenting board members defended the original decision and different standards for unions and employers. "The use of a legitimate organizing tool is now practically prohibited," the dissent statement read.

The new rule limiting photography applies to both unions and employers.

"We are obviously satisfied and happy with the decision that was made on our behalf," said Victor Lee, human-resources director for Unified Brands.

Union representative Molina said the board "threw away the election based on a technicality." He said union leaders were disappointed by the decision but looking forward to the next secret-ballot election.

"I know the momentum is out there," Molina said. "I think the employees are just fed up with the company."

The workers' main complaints have been low wages, long hours without overtime pay and problems with leave time, Molina said. He said the typical pay range is $8 to $11.50 an hour.

Lee declined to comment on the allegations.