UFW wins election to represent 240 farm workers
at Ventura County vegetable & nursery companies
Farm workers at two related Oxnard, Calif. companies with a total of 240 employees at peak season voted April 20, 2016 (today) to be represented by the United Farm Workers in an election conducted by the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Workers at Hiji Bros., Inc. and Seaview Growers Inc. cast ballots to decertify and replace the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 with the UFW on a vote of 111 for the UFW, 61 for UFCW Local 5 and 6 for no-union. Hiji Bros. grows celery, lettuce and cabbage. Seaview Growers is a nursery.
A petition to decertify the UFCW was filed last week with the farm labor board, signed by about 80 percent of the workers who complained about poor representation. A few days later, the UFW qualified for the election ballot after workers signed cards authorizing the UFW to represent them.
The UFW vows to press for negotiations for a union contract with the two firms as soon as the election results are certified by the Sacramento-based ALRB.
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