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Gargiulo/Coastal Berries


Costal Berry Workers sign blownup UFW authorization card after breakthrough understanding announced

For release: June 17, 1997

Breakthrough’ understanding paves way for strawberry workers to vote free from fear

A breakthrough understanding between the United Farm Workers and the new owners at America’s largest direct employer of strawberry workers means more than 1,500 pickers on California’s Central Coast are now free to organize without fear of retribution. Recent developments at Gargiulo Inc. "mark dramatic progress" for workers in the $600 million state strawberry industry, declares UFW President Arturo Rodriguez.

Gargiulo’s strawberry operations have been purchased by Landon Butler and David Gladstone, investors who have operated several successful companies that use union labor. All field workers at the Watsonville, Calif., firm will remain with the company, although the new owners have changed the name to Coast Berry Co.

Upon buying Coastal Berry, Butler notified all strawberry workers that they are free to organize a union, notes Rodriguez. "He guarantees there will be no retaliation against workers who are currently trying to improve their conditions by joining together with the United Farm Workers."

Butler’s Coastal Berry has delivered a letter to their employeees "guaranteeing workers the freedom to organize without fear, harassment, intimidation or threats that workers at other strawberry ranches continue to face," the UFW president observes. The announcement was made at a news conference Tuesday, June 17 with Rodriguez and strawberry workers at a Coastal Berry field near Watsonville.

When the United Farm Workers and the AFL-CIO began The Strawberry Workers Campaign last year, "we said it would be irresponsible to call for elections until they could be meaningful," Rodriguez explains. "That means workers must be free to organize without fear. And, after they organize and vote for the union, growers must negotiate in good faith for union contracts."

Butler "has pledged that he will bargain in good faith if workers for a union and the union is certified by the ALRB," Rodriguez said. "This sets the stage for Coastal Berry’s 1,500 workers to organize for a union in an atmosphere where a free secret ballot election can be held."

Rodriguez dismissed industry criticism of events paving the way for a fair election at Coastal Berry: "The understanding with Coastal Berry is the first major breakthrough in a year-long effort to guarantee strawberry workers the right to choose a union free from fear and retaliation. Those who now protest it so loudly expose which side they are really on."


REMARKS BY ARTURO S. RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT
UNITED FARM WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO
ON MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH COASTAL BERRY CO.
June 17, 1997-Watsonville, Calif.

Developments this week at Gargiulo mark dramatic progress for workers in the multi-million dollar California strawberry industry. More than 1,500 strawberry workers at Gargiulo are now free to organize for a union of their choice without fear of intimidation.

Gargiulo’s strawberry operations have been purchased by Landon Butler and David Gladstone, investors who operate several successful companies. All the field workers will remain with the company1 although the new owners have changed the firms name to Coastal Berry Co.

This week Mr. Butler notified all workers that he has successfully invested in businesses that use union labor and that the strawberry workers are free to organize a union. He guarantees that there will be no retaliation against workers who are currently trying to improve their conditions by joining together with the United Farm Workers.

In addition, the new Coastal Berry Co. and the United Farm Workers have signed an agreement guaranteeing workers the freedom to organize free from fear, harassment, intimidation or threats that workers at other strawberry ranches continue to face.

When the United Farm Workers and the AFL-CIO began the Strawberry Workers Campaign last year, we said it would be irresponsible to call for elections until they could be meaningful. That means workers must be free to organize without fear-and after they organize and vote for the union, growers must negotiate in good faith for a union contract.

Mr. Butler has pledged that he will bargain in good faith if workers vote for a union and the union is certified by the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board.

This sets the stage for Coastal Berry’s 1,500 workers to organize for a union in an atmosphere where a free secret ballot election can be held.