Sept. 21, 1998
Vineyard workers hand UFW first election victory in Mendocino Co.
Workers at the 580-acre Anderson Vineyards Inc., which harvests for famed French Champagne-maker Roederer Estate Winery, voted early Monday morning in Boonville to be represented by the United Farm Workers in a state-conducted secret-ballot election. By a margin of 27 to 18, pickers handed the Cesar Chavez-founded union its first foothold in Mendocino County. A total of about 80 workers labor at the vineyard.
Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) officials oversaw the balloting among workers between 6:30 and 8:30 this morning at the Walraven Ranch on Hwy. 128 in Boonville. The workers have scheduled a victory celebration for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 1998, at at Grange Hall, 699 Hwy. 128, in nearby Philo.
Seventy-five pickers struck Anderson on Sept. 10 after turning down a company offer of $90 per ton of wine grapes. They would have had to divide the money among themselves and tractor drivers. The workers had demanded $95 per ton with tractor drivers paid separately. Pay rates have dropped from $130 per ton five years ago.
Meanwhile, the workers turned to the UFW for help. Union organizers helped them sign authorization cards that were used to file for an ALRB election. Negotiations between the union and company resulted in pickers returning to their jobs after a verbal agreement was reached. The company agreed to the $95-per-ton pay rate, separate pay for tractor drivers, no reprisals against strikers and no importation of anti-union labor consultants.
Only 49 workers were eligible to vote. Some of the 75 pickers who struck the company had been hired after the end of the previous payroll period that determined eligibility for the election. Anderson also broke its verbal agreement by bringing in labor consultants to campaign against the UFW.
Monday’s vote count is the union’s 17th straight election victory since a major new union organizing campaign began in 1994. Since then, the UFW has also won 21 new contracts with growers.
Anderson Vineyards is the latest milestone in North State organizing by the union. The UFW recently reached agreement on union contracts with two other area companies. One covers 100 year-round workers at Balletto Farms in Sonoma County, the North Coast’s largest vegetable operation. The other is with Vista Management Co., employing 75 vineyard workers in the Napa Valley.
In addition to a drive to organize Central Coast strawberry workers, the UFW is continuing efforts to win a union contract for 400 workers laboring for giant Gallo Vineyards in Sonoma County.
The Anderson Vineyards site was chosen in 1981 by Champagne Louis Roederer President Jean-Claude Rouzaud to produce top-quality wine for the 200-year old French firm. Roederer plans to make special champagne for the year 2000 costing $2,000 a bottle.
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