"Ganamos! Ganamos (We won! We won!)" was the response of organizers and workers to this victory July 20. Some 350 tomato workers had walked out of the hot houses of Dutch-owned Eurofresh Inc. on Nov. 12, 1999, in response to the company issuing a new pay structure that doubled the amount of work for about the same pay. But workers' dissatisfaction with the company began long before they walked off the job. The workforce is entirely Mexican, and many cite the disrespectful treatment by the company, and poor sanitary and safety conditions, as additional reasons for the union-organizing effort.

"We were tired of the poor conditions and they treated us like burros, like we were stupid," union leader Jesús García said. "We knew nothing about the unions here. We called all the unions in the telephone book and the UFCW was the first to come help us organize."

The tomato workers stayed out for two weeks before going back to work, having signed up more than 300 people on UFCW union cards. Over the next nine months García and Rito Gutiérrez led an in-plant organizing committee, which spoke with every worker in the plant.

As the company's antiunion propaganda intensified, home visits were organized as well. Union supporters held rallies outside the plant with signs saying, "Sí se puede, UFCW." Two days before the vote, 200 workers showed up at a union rally, a good sign that the organizing drive would be a success.

The union victory took the Eurofresh tomato workers on the road to becoming the first farm workers in the state to be covered by a union contract, which is now the next step in the fight.

There are 56,000 agricultural workers statewide in a $6.3 billion industry.

When the UFCW began to help organize the workers, Eurofresh hired Michael Saqui, a lawyer from Fresno, California, to keep the union out. Saqui filed several unfair labor practice charges against the UFCW before the vote and the board disqualified 150 packinghouse workers from voting, ruling they were not agricultural workers. Unionizing efforts by farm workers are controlled by the Agricultural Employment Relations Board, empowered by the Agricultural Employment Relations Act, not the National Labor Relations Board.

Also, before the election the company put a number of workers on piece work as an incentive to make more money without the union. That attempt at bribery ended after the vote. Eurofresh has put 70 in-plant organizers on tasks such as picking up garbage and constructing new hot houses in an effort to keep them from talking union to the other workers.

A week after the election, Eurofresh filed 13 charges against the union with the state Agricultural Employment Relations Board. The charges accuse the union of threats, coercion, and intimidation of workers before and during the elections. These legal challenges will delay any negotiations of a contract. Meanwhile, the company has continued to expand and hire workers. Among the 600 workers now employed, "Everybody wants to sign" for the union, Jesús García said.

Mary Valencia, one of the 70 sent to do construction work, said, "We won't get union insurance until we get the contract. We are trying to get everyone together to get the contract." The in-plant organizers are meeting with the other workers to decide what demands should be in the pact.

The organizing committee is planning a victory celebration for August 26 here, and has invited everyone who supports the struggle to participate.  
 
 
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