Joint committee hearing 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Capitol
How did support for UFW at largest U.S. table
grape company go from 74.5% to 48% in one week?
How did backing for the United Farm Workers among workers at Giumarra Vineyards Corp., America’s biggest table grape company, go from 74.5 percent to 48 percent in seven days before the Sept. 1, 2005 union representation election? “What did the Giumarras do to cause such a hemorrhaging of union support?” asks UFW President Arturo Rodriguez.
The state Senate Judiciary and Labor and Industrial Relations committees will seek answers to those questions during a joint state Capitol hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 16. Rodriguez and Giumarra workers will testify how the grower employing nearly 3,000 workers threatened its laborers with losing their jobs, closing down the company, changing operations causing widespread job losses and retaliating against the majority of the work force who are undocumented—all if they voted for the UFW.
On Aug. 25, 2005, 2,182 Giumarra workers out of 2,925 employed triggered the state-conducted secret-ballot election by signing cards authorizing the union to represent them. Seven days later, 2,530 cast ballots; there are 123 unresolved challenged ballots. The UFW went from 74.5 percent of the workers saying they supported the union to losing the election by a narrow margin of 125 votes, ending up with 48 percent of the ballots cast.
“What would happen if when voters in political elections went to the polls, candidates from one party or the other told voters they would lose their jobs if they vote for candidates from the other party?” the UFW’s Rodriguez says. “What Giumarra did was much worse because the nation’s largest table grape producer has absolute control over the livelihood of its workers.”
Who: UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, Giumarra grape workers, the state Senate Judiciary and Labor and Industrial Relations committees.
What: Joint hearing on how worker support for the UFW went from 74.5 percent to 48 percent in the week before the Sept. 1, 2005 election at America’s largest table grape company.
When: 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006.
Where: State Capitol Room 112.
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