‘We don’t want a union’: Wonderful Nurseries farm workers rally again against UFW

WASCO, Calif. (KGET) — It’s a complicated situation to try and untangle, with none of the parties putting their cards on the table — at least not now.

A large group of workers held a protest Monday afternoon outside the Wonderful Nurseries company in Wasco. These farm workers claim they were tricked into unionizing with the United Farm Workers (UFW). This gathering follows one in Visalia last month.

A protester told 17 News more than 200 people had likely shown up in the Visalia and Wasco gatherings combined.

“What [UFW] did to us was a fraud,” said Ana Lopez, a Wonderful employee of six years. “They shouldn’t have [taken] our signatures for them to benefit them.”

This alleged fraud is the center of a debate on whether farmworkers at Wonderful Nurseries, the largest grapevine nursery in North America, were tricked into joining the UFW.

Chanting “We don’t want a union, listen to our voices, don’t ignore us” in Spanish, these farm workers have been voicing those demands for weeks now, walking out during work hours, giving up pay.

“[UFW] told us something different,” Lopez said. “Now, we’re part of a union, or they want us to be part of a union, and we don’t want to be part of the union.”

Why? Lopez, alongside colleagues, said they don’t feel they need a union.

“[The union] doesn’t do anything. There’s people that have been here more than 30 years, and we never had any issues here,” Lopez said of the Wonderful Nurseries work environment.

The key players in this ongoing dispute are workers such as Ana Lopez, Wonderful Nurseries, UFW and the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board or ALRB.

According to a report by the ALRB, 148 employees said they do not want to be in the union and are alleging the UFW engaged in “unlawful and fraudulent conduct in obtaining employee signatures on authorization cards.”

These cards — which can be viewed in the video attached to this article — count as one’s vote toward joining a union.

Lopez and others said via door knocking, UFW approached individual employees about a $600 COVID-19 stimulus check. They explained that eventually, UFW told them the card was part of the process to receive that money.

Lopez added when she asked if there was a catch to signing the card, she was told by a UFW employee it was “just for me and my supervisor.”

In an interview with Telemundo Bakersfield, UFW Vice President Erika Navarrete, who workers allege was a persuading force in getting them to sign, declined to specify how signatures were collected.

The workers maintain the card really was a union application. The UFW denies those claims.

17’s Jenny Huh: “So you deny any allegation, whatever it may be, that there was any coercion into getting these workers to sign the vote cards?”

Elizabeth Strater, Director of Strategic Campaigns at UFW: “There is absolutely no connection between the two.”

The UFW spokesperson instead stated Wonderful is forcing its employees to make such statements.

She added, “The charges state that the employer has coerced workers into making false statements, has coerced workers into attending anti-union actions during work hours…”

When asked if there’s evidence of those allegations, Strater said the “Evidence around that is with the ALRB,” and that they will be made public as the case progresses.

Strater did say, however, some of that evidence include worker testimony.

In a phone call with 17 News, Seth Oster with Wonderful Nurseries said Wonderful has nothing to do with the protests and that it is up to workers if they want to unionize.

Oster also said workers will face zero repercussions for walking out.

“If they had told us in the beginning, we were gonna be part of a union, we wouldn’t have ever signed [the cards],” Lopez said.

Her colleague, Randy Gracia, agreed: “We have mouths to feed, bills to pay.”

Gracia, referring to the dues union members have to pay. But UFW clarified Wonderful workers do not have to pay these dues until they negotiate a labor contract.

Both Lopez and Gracia said they receive $16.30/hour and that their exact tasks vary from season to season.

For more context, this authorization card is a new, more private way for California workers to unionize.

All it takes is listing one’s name, company, location and date. The cards are then dropped off at the regional ALRB office. If a majority of workers’ signatures are gathered, then ULW — or any other labor union — wins the ‘election’ to represent those workers.

According to the ALRB, 640 Wonderful employees were deemed “eligible” to be part of the union. The report states that UFW submitted “327 valid authorization cards, thereby establishing majority support.” Thus, UFW is now representing all 640 workers as union members.

Many of farm workers participating at the rallies also noted they have reached out to the UFW about getting out of the union but have never heard back.

Strater said she’s never heard from any of the workers directly.

The ALRB will once again consider arguments of both sides on April 26.

In an earlier March 25 hearing, the ALRB stood in favor of UFW, maintaining the initial certification that a majority of Wonderful Nurseries workers had voted to have UFW represent them.

The ALRB did not respond to request for comment on the ongoing case.

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