L.A. City Council unanimously tells Gerawan to implement the contract
Speaking to the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday, Oct. 22, we reminded members that when powerful growers bullied farm workers in the 1960s, Cesar Chavez turned for support to the cities, including L.A. Gerawan farm workers asked councilmembers to stand with them against bullying in the fields on Wednesday.
A neutral state mediator chosen by Gerawan issued a union contract approved by the state last year. Gerawan owes its thousands of workers millions of dollars in pay raises and other benefits. Yet Gerawan fiercely resists its workers at every turn, committing flagrant labor law violations.
State prosecutors have now issued five damning complaints or indictments against Gerawan following thorough investigations by state agents. The latest complaint, from September, accuses Gerawan of coercing workers into attending anti-UFW and anti-state protests—by closing its fields and intimidating workers who refused to attend.
Gerawan’s money and power—backed by a slick PR drive from Grover Norquist and the radical right—have thus far denied these workers justice in the fields. So Gerawan workers came to L.A., asking the City Council to help them win the justice that Gerawan denies. Councilmembers unanimously passed a resolution urging Gerawan to refrain from violating the law and implement its workers’ union contract.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President,
United Farm Workers of America