In an unusual twist on the concept of eminent domain (already a questionable practice), the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union is attempting to use the legal gambit to wrest assets away from their rightful owners and force a sale to former company employees. When Esterline Technologies announced the closure of a plant in Taunton, MA, its intent was to liquidate its plant assets and move on. The union took the matter to the town council, and is pushing the council to use Eminent Domain to force Esterline to sell to a group of former employees, who desire to keep the plant open. “Eminent domain usually involves a ‘taking,’ but this is a ‘keeping,'” said UE Eastern Region President Peter Knowlton. “We’re trying to keep a viable operation running and providing jobs.” It is an amazing corruption of the concepts of law when the object is to force a company to create a competitor with its own assets.
