Workers agreed to hourly raises of 35 cents the first year, 30 cents the second year, and 25 cents the third year. Currently workers start at $6.15 an hour. They also won dental coverage and a union health plan that will eliminate worker premiums for dependents’ coverage beginning Feb. 1, 2002.

In an interview, Rito Gutiérrez, a leader of the in-plant organizing committee, pointed to two clauses in the contract that workers felt were more important than monetary gains. One states that no worker will be disciplined without cause. The other would allow workers the right to return to work after an authorized absence.

"Now we are going to have respect for everyone," Gutiérrez said. "No one will be fired for no reason."

The contract states that the company may continue to use prisoners from Fort Grant state prison as tomato pickers not represented by the union.

After a nine-month organizing drive, tomato workers at Eurofresh won the right to vote for a union. On July 20 they voted 116 to 70 for representation by UFCW Local 99. At the time, elated workers chanted "Ganamos! Ganamos!" (We won) in response to this victory.  
 
November 12 walkout
Some 350 tomato workers walked out of the hothouses of Dutch-owned Eurofresh on Nov. 12, 1999. The strike was triggered by the company issuing a new pay structure that would have doubled the amount of work for the same pay. Workers’ dissatisfaction had been simmering long before the walkout. The mostly Mexican workforce balked at the bosses’ insulting treatment of them, and opposed the abysmal sanitary and safety conditions.

Shortly after they walked out, workers decided to join a union. Jesús García, a leader of the fight, said, "We were tired of the poor conditions. They treated us like burros, like stupids." He added, "We knew nothing about unions. 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. They returned to work with more than 300 UFCW union cards signed. This was only the beginning of the nine-month struggle for union representation. Rito Gutiérrez and Jesús García led an in-plant organizing committee, which had discussions with every worker in the plant to consolidate support for the union fight.

Before the election, members of the organizing committee went door-to-door to co-workers’ homes as the company’s antiunion propaganda intensified. Pro-union workers rallied outside the plant with signs declaring "Sí se puede, UFCW" (Yes we can, UFCW). Two days before the vote, 200 workers showed up at a union rally.

The union victory took the Eurofresh tomato workers on the road to becoming the first group of farm workers to be represented by an Arizona union contract in more than 30 years. There are 56,000 agricultural workers in Arizona in a $6.3 billion industry.

In 1972, an Agricultural Employment Relations Act was passed in Arizona, establishing an Agricultural Employer Relations Board that regulates efforts by farm workers to organize in the state.

When workers began their efforts to be represented by the UFCW, Eurofresh hired attorney Michael Saqui of Fresno, California, to keep the union out. Saqui filed several unfair labor practice complaints against the UFCW before the vote, and the board disqualified 150 workers from voting, ruling that they were not agricultural workers. This ruling, along with firings by the company, reduced the number of workers involved from the original 350 who walked out to the 186 that voted.

On August 26, about 70 tomato workers, relatives, and supporters gathered at the Willcox Community Center to celebrate their union election and solidify their determination to win a contract from a company that had publicized its opposition to accepting a union contract. Local 99 president William McDonnell welcomed the workers to the statewide local, which has about 21,000 members.

In this rural town a couple of hours east of Tucson, Dutch-owned Eurofresh owns a vast expanse of tomato nurseries, row on row of hothouses. The company is expanding. It has recently contracted more than 200 additional workers from Mexico--many of whom are Mixtec or other indigenous nationalities--hoping they could easily be convinced to oppose the union. At least three of these new workers were at the August 26 celebration. One of them, a 15-year-old Mixtec youth from the state of Guerrero, said he thought that in time many more would support the union.

Cecilia Quijada, a packer who has worked at Eurofresh for almost four years, said winning union recognition means "workers won’t be abused like we used to be." She said her message to workers elsewhere who are considering a fight for a union is, "Don’t be afraid. If you’re afraid, you can’t win."

For three months the UFCW negotiated with Eurofresh for a contract. On November 3 the Agricultural Employee Relations Board dismissed all charges against the union, certified it, and the company and the union negotiators agreed on a tentative three-year pact.

Six days later, eligible tomato workers ratified the contract by a 98-2 vote. Crop workers, pickers, roof washers, and housekeepers are covered by the agreement.  
 
 
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