Laws: January, 2004 - Number #04

On October 16, 2003, the ALRB issued its first mandatory mediation decision, ordering that a mediator's recommended collective bargaining agreement be implemented between the Hess Collection Winery of Napa County and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (29 ALRB 6). The ALRB dismissed Hess's objections, and Hess appealed to the Court of Appeals. The ALRB also ordered mandatory mediation for Pictsweet Mushroom Farms of Ventura County and the UFW. Outgoing Governor Gray Davis nominated Michael Bustamante and Daniel Zingale to $114,191 a year jobs at the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, giving the Board five members. Gallo. The UFW's contract with Gallo of Sonoma expired November 1, 2003. On March 13, 2003, disgruntled Gallo workers persuaded the ALRB to organize a decertification election at Gallo, but the UFW filed charges alleging that Gallo unlawfully interfered by promising better wages and benefits in exchange for voting the UFW out, so the votes were not counted. In December 2003, the ALRB agreed with the UFW that Gallo unlawfully interfered with the decertification election when two foremen employed by one of the FLCs Gallo used to obtain workers urged employees to sign the decertification petition. The UFW claimed that 75 percent of the workers at Gallo of Sonoma were hired via FLCs, as the UFW contract allowed, and not provided with health care benefits. Gallo says it employs 80 workers directly, and that farm labor contractors provide another 200. At Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, workers voted 77-31 to decertify the UFW in July 2003, but a decertification request filed by workers at Kunde Russian River Valley vineyards is on hold as the ALRB investigates allegations that Kunde laid off workers who were union supporters and failed to negotiate the layoffs with the union. LM-2. The UFW filed its LM-2 report for 2002, the report all unions must file with the US Department of Labor. The UFW reported 5,146 members at the end of 2002, $6.9 million in income, $7.5 million in expenses, and net assets of $2.4 million. The UFW had $1.7 million in dues income- with dues two percent of earnings, members earned $85 million in 2002- and received $3 million in donations. Major expenses were for administration, $2.5 million and employee salaries, $1.9 million. DOL has issued regulations that require national, regional and local unions with an annual income of more than $250,000 to provide much more financial detail in their LM-2 reports. Beginning in March 2005, unions are to report expenses and receipts over $5,000, and the finances of related trusts; unions sued to block the new reporting. Other UFW. The UFW, after a five-year struggle, won the right to represent strawberry pickers at Coastal Berry Co., the largest US strawberry grower, with about 1,500 employees divided between Watsonville and Oxnard, California. The National Right to Work Foundation persuaded the ALRB to file a complaint against the UFW in December 2003, alleging that the UFW had workers in Oxnard fired unlawfully for not paying union dues. According to the complaint, the UFW should have allowed workers who did not want to become UFW members to pay representation costs for collective bargaining and contract administration and not become UFW members. However, the UFW constitution says that workers who do not become union members in good standing can be ordered fired by their employers on farms with contracts that require all workers to be UFW members in good standing. The UFW's two-year contract with Bakersfield furniture firm Guy Chaddock & Co expired on August 13, 2003. The UFW's pension fund has almost $100 million to provide benefits to 10,000 members, but 700 eligible members have not applied for the benefits they are owed. The UFW has been searching for those who earned benefits under contracts in the 1970s, and issuing them checks when they are found; the 99th such found worker, a 92-year old, received $77,000 in December 2003. Mary Fricker, "Judge rules Gallo illegally tried to sway UFW vote," Press Democrat, December 20, 2003. Fred Alvarez, "UFW Is Accused in Firing of Pickers," Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2003.