NAPA VALLEY

A decision on the fate of 27 former employees at St. Helena’s Charles Krug Winery will be made public sometime Thursday.

On Tuesday, Fred Capuyan, regional director of the Salinas office of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, said he would render a decision and make the results known on Thursday. The decision could be whether or not to pursue labor violation charges against the winery.

Recently Capuyan listed the charges filed, which includes the July 7, 2006 termination of the workers who were United Farm Workers members, the winery’s use of vineyard manager Jack Neal & Son to replace the workers and bargaining over the workers’ termination.

If the ALRB pursues the complaints, Charles Krug officials would have 10 days to answer charges and then the matter would go in front of an administrative law judge. If the charges are dismissed, United Farm Workers would have an opportunity to appeal the dismissal.

The ALRB also will address an earlier complaint, filed at the time of the workers’ dismissals, saying the winery engaged in bad-faith bargaining with the UFW. Krug officials have denied any wrongdoing, and said the dismissals were based on failed negotiations for a new contract with workers.

The labor dispute began when the UFW contract expired in November 2005. During renegotiations, Krug officials asked that all union members be required to pass a physical aptitude test. But the union balked and said that the tests might be used as a tool to get rid of older workers.