Pictsweet found guilty of illegally firing mushroom worker who backed UFW
An administrative judge with the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) has ruled that Pictsweet Mushroom Farms illegally fired mushroom picker Fidel Andrade in retaliation for his support of the United Farm Workers and for engaging in other activities protected by California’s farm labor law. The judge ordered Andrade be offered his job back and that he be reimbursed for all lost wages and other losses "suffered as a result of his unlawful discharge."
After three days of testimony during hearings on Oct. 30, 31 and Nov. 1, 2001, Administrative Law Judge Douglas Gallop concluded in a 31-page written decision released on Jan. 10, 2002 that state prosecutors "established a prima facie case" that the firing of Andrade violated provisions of the act that make it an unfair labor practice for an agricultural employer to "interfere with, restrain or coerce" workers in the exercise of their rights under the law.
Pictsweet claimed Andrade was fired for physically assaulting a supervisor during an altercation at the Ventura mushroom plant. But the judge concluded that the same supervisor "had earlier shouted at Andrade and pointed his finger at his [Andrade’s] face," according to the written judgment. "That afternoon, [supervisor Augustine] Villanueva, apparently still angry about the morning [finger-pointing] incident, threw mushrooms into Andrade’s basket at a time Andrade’s face was inches away. When Andrade protested this, Villanueva chose to escalate the confrontation by returning to Andrade’s work area, and by again shouting at him and pointing his finger.
"In response, Andrade made one, brief physical contact, causing no injury. Under these circumstances…it is concluded that Andrade’s response was in line with Villanueva’s provocation and, therefore, [Pictsweet] may not rely on it" in defending its decision to fire Andrade.
Gallop, the ALRB judge, also cited "the cursory treatment" given by Pictsweet to an anti-UFW worker who admitted referring to the "killing" of union supporters, other management personnel’s "sarcastic reference" to union supporters as "know it alls," the "general tarring of union supporters as treating the foremen like ‘garbage’ and the mocking conduct" of management in issuing Andrade an earlier warning letter. All these and other events "tend to show animus toward union sympathizers, and a predisposition to blame them in disputed cases of misconduct."
The judge also referred to a Pictsweet "employee handbook discouraging employees from seeking redress through the union and encouraging direct dealing [with the grower], the latter arguably constituting" a law violation. And Gallop noted that Pictsweet "again arguably violated the act…by refusing to recognize union-designated employee representatives."
Gallop ordered that Pictsweet rescind the firing, offer Andrade his job back with seniority, pay him all lost wages and other benefits, post notices about workers’ rights and arrange for an ALRB agent to read and distribute the notice to employees on company time and answer their questions outside the presence of Pictsweet officials.
On Sept. 4, 2001, ALRB prosecutors issued a complaint against Pictsweet over Andrade’s firing. A separate detailed nine-count complaint was issued against Pictsweet on June 26, 2001 by prosecutors with the ALRB for a host of labor law violations, including bad faith bargaining and illegally acting to get rid of the union. A hearing before another judge on that complaint is set for Feb. 14 in Ventura.
Negotiations have gone on since late 1999, with Pictsweet refusing to respond to the workers’ basic demands, the UFW states. The Cesar Chavez-founded union has contracts protecting about 70% of the mushroom workers on California’s Central Coast.
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