OAK CREEK, Wis. -- Mechanics and drivers attempting to unionize a Hertz Equipment Rental Corp. branch near Milwaukee recently walked off the job in protest of what they contend are unfair labor practices by the company, RER has learned.

Workers have set up a picket line at HERC's branch here and filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board office in Milwaukee, according to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139.

The union accuses HERC of restraining employees attempting to picket and discriminating against those who wished to join the union in hiring and promotions.

The Park Ridge, N.J.-based company denied the allegations. "We are continuing to bargain in good faith, but the union has taken a fixed and implacable position," a company spokeswoman said. She added that employees at the Oak Creek facility have not approved a vote to join the union, which is why the company has not recognized them

According to Dale Miller, Local 139's business manager, four Oak Creek workers walked out September 24 before voting to unionize because HERC employees who approved unionization in three other cities still have not been recognized by the company.

Miller said that union employees at two HERC outlets in the Chicago area have expressed solidarity with the picketing Milwaukee area workers and that the labor unrest has cost HERC at least $60,000 in rentals as sympathetic contractors send back Hertz equipment at Chicago jobsites.

"When they deliver equipment, we put up pickets," Miller said. "We tell the union contractors what's going on, and we encourage them to go to a different source to rent their equipment."

The National Labor Relations Board Milwaukee office is expected to decide soon whether the union's allegations of unfair labor practices have merit.