Just a couple weeks ago, workers at Ikea's Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia
voted to join the International Association of Machinists. Tuesday, workers at another Danville plant supplying Ikea—this one not owned by Ikea itself—
voted against joining the United Steelworkers.
In this case, the employer, EBI, seems to have gone the route of acknowledging problems and promising things would get better without a union. Whether this would have been their strategy if the Swedwood plant hadn't been en route to unionizing is anyone's guess; similarly, the fate of the Swedwood union may have an impact on how workers at other local plants think about the decision to join a union.
It's disappointing, but then, the reason we cheer so much when a workplace votes to join a union is because it's so damn hard.