OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING

July 16, 2007

Threemile Canyon Farms Signs Union Agreement

By Kristian Foden-Vencil

PORTLAND, OR - Oregon's farm workers are celebrating a decisive victory this week, after one of the states' largest farms signed its first-ever union agreement.

Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman is big. It employs about 300 people and covers an area larger than Multnomah County.

For the last four years, management and union organizers have been battling over everything from wages to discrimination. But after a union vote, the company signed an agreement Sunday giving workers family medical insurance, a pension plan, two weeks of paid vacation and a raise.

United Farm Workers president, Arturo Rodriguez: "I mean this really is a historic moment for farm workers in this country and this state in particular."

Rodriguez hopes the agreement will become a model for other Oregon farms.

Threemile Canyon management says the agreement will bring an end to all the worker disputes and allow them to focus on growing food.