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SALINAS CALIFORNIAN December 3, 2007
D'Arrigo-UFW pact sprouts after 32 years
By
ROBERTA KWOK
After more than 30 years of gridlock, the United Farm Workers union and Salinas Valley vegetable firm D'Arrigo Brothers Co. have settled on a contract. The agreement, which took effect Oct. 21, was reached after a state labor board ordered the produce company to work with a mediator to resolve differences with the union. Employees had been working without a contract since agreeing to membership in the union in 1975. The three-year contract covers D'Arrigo field workers in the Salinas Valley and Brawley areas, including harvesters, irrigators and tractor drivers. It details rules for seniority, grievance procedures, wage scales, overtime and other issues. "These people negotiated their own agreement, every last sentence," said C. Allen Pool, the Monterey-based mediator chosen by the two parties. "They were both satisfied with the terms and conditions." Under the contract, workers will receive health-care plans, five paid holidays, anniversary bonuses and varying wages based on their title and type of produce harvested. D'Arrigo workers had complained the company "refused to bargain in good faith," had no grievance procedure and gave low pay, no job security or seniority protections, according to past UFW statements. The union prompted the mediation by filing a request in January to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. The request followed two agricultural labor bills passed in 2002, which allow unions to demand mediation if they cannot reach agreement in a year. D'Arrigo Brothers Co. argued the case did not qualify for mandatory mediation but was overruled by the board, according to board documents. The company also filed two court complaints to block the mediation order, both of which were denied, court documents show. The UFW and the company met in May and agreed on a contract after a month and a half, Pool said.
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