June 17, 1998
UFW response to WGA’s ‘absurd’ lawsuit
United Farm Workers spokesman Marc Grossman issued the following statement today:
* The Western Growers Association is reaching for straws in its zealousness to sabotage progress for strawberry workers.
* The WGA lawsuit amounts to sour grapes. It had its chance with the unfair labor practice charges WGA filed last summer with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Back then, WGA argued it is illegal for a grower to be neutral while its workers organize. The ALRB, which is totally controlled by political appointees of Gov. Pete Wilson, dismissed those charges this year.
* Now WGA has filed this absurd civil suit mirroring charges the ALRB has already dismissed. It also advances other ludicrous claims that the union controls Coastal Berry Co. and that Coastal Berry Co. is financing the UFW’s organizing efforts.
* It takes a lot of chutzpah for WGA President David Moore to complain that "Coastal Berry has shown itself to be against worker free choice."
The last five times strawberry workers voted to be represented by the UFW, growers retaliated against their workers’ freedom of choice by shutting down operations and laying off the work force. After the most recent election in August 1995, VCNM Farms also plowed under part of its berry crop to show all strawberry workers what happens to those who stand up for their rights. At the time, VCNM Farms was represented by WGA lawyers.
Even the Pete Wilson–controlled Agricultural Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against VCNM. The company ended up paying its workers $113,000 in lost wages–although they still lost their jobs.
So today’s WGA lawsuit is laden with hypocrisy.