Farm workers settle lawsuit for $3.5 million;
UFW president and elected officials urge D’Arrigo
to also resolve sex and bad-faith bargaining actions
United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and top Central Coast elected officials will use a 12 noon event hailing settlement by D’Arrigo Bros. farm workers of a $3.5 million transportation lawsuit to urge the giant grower to also resolve pending legal actions over sex bias against women and refusal to bargain in good faith for a union contract with the UFW.
On Wednesday, attorneys for the parties announce settlement of the federal class-action suit. The class of plaintiffs includes D’Arrigo field workers employed in Monterey County between Aug. 4, 1997, and April 15, 2000, and required by the company as a condition of employment to ride on D’Arrigo-controlled buses to and from work. The plaintiffs say they were not paid for that time in violation of state and federal laws. Without admitting guilt, D’Arrigo agreed to settle the lawsuit. It will pay $3.5 million and may pay up to $3,605,000.
UFW leaders, affected workers and public officials will discuss the settlement at the Wednesday event outside D’Arrigo’s new cooler and offices in Spreckles. They include the UFW’s Rodriguez, Assemblymember Simon Salinas (D-Salinas), Monterey County Supervisor Fernando Armenta, Salinas Mayor Ana Caballero, Watsonville Mayor Antonio Rivas and Greenfield Mayor John Huerta.
The union will also unveil petitions signed by more than 70 percent of the grower’s 1,500 farm workers calling on the company to quickly pay the money to its workers. They will also urge D’Arrigo to settle a separate federal class-action lawsuit alleging sex bias against women workers and a bad-faith bargaining case filed by the UFW. This year the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board found D’Arrigo guilty of refusing to bargain in good faith for a union contract. That decision is being appealed in the courts.
Who: UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, top Central Coast elected officials, affected workers.
What: Urging the giant D’Arrigo Bros. vegetable company to quickly pay workers their money from a $3.5 million transportation lawsuit settlement and settle separate sex bias and bad-faith bargaining cases.
When: 12 noon, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006.
Where: D’Arrigo Bros. office/cooler, 21777 Harris Rd., Spreckles (near Salinas).
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