Tues .July 21-Wed. July 22: All night vigil at the Salinas ALRB
Central coast strawberry workers hold vigil at ALRB urging rejection of violence & ‘sham’ election bid by big berry grower
200 Coastal Berry Co. strawberry workers caravanned over to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where they are conducting a vigil to urge immediate action by state officials against violence and to dismiss a "sham" union election at California’s largest strawberry ranch. Approximately 75 of them, will be continuing the vigil throughout the night, and will be present when the ALRB office opens at 8 am, Wednesday.
Workers are at the ALRB to urge them to act on evidence that company agents at Coastal Berry in Watsonville organized and ordered anti-union workers to assult pro-UFW workers on July 1. Five workers were sent to the emergency room. The documentation shows that after the violence, company agents went crew-to-crew intimidating, threatening, and forcing pickers to sign an election petitions, including the threat of losing their jobs. (See the UFW’s summary of evidence handed over to the ALRB.)
Who: 75 Coastal Berry Co. strawberry workers.
What: All night vigil urging the ALRB to reject an election petition sponsored by ranch managers who organized anti-union violence in their Watsonville-area fields that injured berry pickers and law officers on July 1.
When: 2 pm – 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 21, through Wednesday, July 22, 1998.
Where: ALRB=s Salinas headquarters, 112 Boronda Rd., Salinas
Also occurring today, in Sacramento, farm workers and supporters continued a week-long protest Monday outside the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, across from the state Capitol. 200 farm workers and supporters were on hand today at an 11 am press conference to urge the ALRB to reject a >sham= petition filed Thursday for an election at Coastal Berry Co. by an anti-union grower-backed group.
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