Posts tagged Farm Workers
Massive California fruit grower is bankrupt. Here’s how many jobs will be lost
January 29, 2024 // The letter also served as notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act, which under federal and state law requires companies to provide at least 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs. A company document of regular full time positions shows there are 5,411 employees. Of those, 3,743 are seasonal employees. Dan Gerawan, the former CEO of Gerawan Farming and Prima Wawona, spoke briefly about the upcoming sale of the farm’s property. Gerawan, the third generation owner of Gerawan Farming, has a pending lawsuit against Paine Schwartz Partners. Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article284696191.html#storylink=cpy
UFW just got big union wins at New York farms. Is the same coming for California?
July 19, 2023 // Like many unions, UFW has struggled to organize over the last few decades, its membership dwindling from 60,000 to around 6,000. Even with legal protection, farmworker organizing is often slow, painstaking work. Many prospective union members are reluctant to give up 3% of their already low wages for dues, and worry that their immigration status leaves them vulnerable to employer retaliation.
Farmworker union bill may impact Valley more than other new laws
January 3, 2023 // Farm workers and supporters of the bill celebrated its signing as a huge win for equalized rights for farm workers. Delano Mayor Bryan Osorio was one of the supporters who began the march with farm workers as they departed for their journey. “This was a very important bill for the United Farm Workers, and many allied organizations across the Central Valley and across California, who want farmworkers to have a better or safer way of voting in union elections,” Osorio said. California agricultural groups said the bill and supplemental agreement represents a dramatic departure from rules protecting farm employees from coercion in union votes. “We’re disappointed,” said California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson. “‘Card check is simply devoid of that privacy and the right to freely decide how you want to be represented based on what’s best for you and your family.
What a Surge in Union Organizing Means for Food and Farm Workers
March 25, 2022 // By organizing with the Warehouse Workers for Justice, many were able to get their jobs back and have their demands met. “What’s really interesting is that there’s a huge movement right now for worker centers and unions to work together ... to essentially surround the industry,” Oliva said. “So if an employer busts the union, the worker center emerges. If the worker center is unable to organize the workers, the union organizes them.”