12 noon Thursday in Portland
Women file second sex bias lawsuit against
giant Oregon dairy as religious activists ask
Bank of the West to intervene with the farm
‘[Women workers are] only good for the bed,’ owner says.
As women farm workers file a second sexual bias lawsuit since 2004 against Threemile Canyon Farms, top labor and religious leaders will urge Bank of the West, the giant Oregon dairy’s largest financial backer, to pressure the company into ending its discrimination and resolving its dispute with the United Farm Workers of America.
Women plaintiffs settled the first suit out of court last September for just under $200,000 and a pledge by the farm to hire female employees. As part of the settlement, the Farm
acknowledged it had not hired any women to work at the dairy in it several years of operation. The Farm also promised to change its hiring practices and to encourage women to apply for jobs.
Declarations signed under penalty of perjury by 12 current Threemile Canyon farm workers document blatant bias by the farm’s owner, A.J. Bos. “I don’t want women at the farm,” Bos said to workers during a meeting in September. “I don’t want women working here. They’re only good for t he bed. Women cause a lot of problems and don’t know how to do the work like us.”
Meanwhile, a motion for punitive damages will also be filed Thursday in the same court as part of a separate lawsuit filed earlier this year by Arturo Sepulveda, a farm worker fired last April by Threemile Canyon for being a witness against the company in the first, now settled, sex discrimination lawsuit.
Lawyers representing former Threemile employee Arturo Sepulveda today asked that the court permit them to claim punitive damages against the Dairy, alleging that Bos’s comments prove that the Dairy’s actions against workers are intentional and malicious. Sepulveda was fired by the Farm earlier this year. He is contesting the firing, arguing he was fired for being a named witness in the first sexual discrimination lawsuit and for his union activism at the Farm. His lawsuit is scheduled for trial December 5 of this year.
Threemile Canyon heavily relies upon a $101 million line of credit from Bank of the West. With 480 branches in 16 states, the bank counts among its major customers U.S. religious institutions. So church leaders from Portland will urge the bank to intervene with Threemile Canyon on behalf of the women plaintiffs and the farm’s workers who have been organizing with the UFW since February 2003. The company employs 300 full time dairy and potato workers.
Who: Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain, Representatives from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Oregon Farm Worker Ministries, Oregon Sierra Club, Oregon Center for Environmental Health, Portland-area pastors, current and former women plaintiffs and workers from Threemile Canyon Farms and their attorneys.
What: Filing a second sex bias lawsuit against the giant Oregon dairy.
When: 12 noon, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005.
Where: Bank of the West, 401 SW 5th, Portland 97204.
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