AUBURN – After a 10-month campaign, workers at the Panolam plant agreed to join Local 340 of the Teamsters union by a vote of 163-109 on Friday, according to Local President Jim Carson.

“It was a hard-fought campaign; we needed to prevail,” Carson said Saturday.

He said the vote was delayed when the union complained to the National Labor Relations Board in March about Panolam’s tactics to dissuade workers from joining the union.

Carson said the NLRB found in the Teamsters’ favor and reached a settlement with Panolam.

“The company had to put up notices all over the plant that they wouldn’t engage (in anti-union practices),” he said.

After Friday’s ballot count, he described company officials as disappointed, but “it was civil; we shook hands.”

No one at Panolam could be reached for comment Saturday. The person who answered the phone at the plastics and laminate plant said to call back Monday.

Panolam, which bought Pioneer Plastics in 1999, employs about 500 people.

Since 304 were eligible for the union vote, that will be the size of the bargaining unit moving forward, Carson said. First up is having a proposal meeting to work on a full contract and looking at other Panolam plants, including one union shop and one in Canada, to compare conditions and pay.

“At least get a look. If someone in Canada is being paid $18 an hour for something that someone in Auburn is being paid $13, a wage adjustment is in order,” Carson said.