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TRI-
Former employees sue
By Pratik Joshi, Herald staff writer
Some former employees of Ruby Ridge Dairy filed a lawsuit Wednesday
against the
The lawsuit, filed by 14 workers, alleges workers weren't paid for all
the hours they worked and were denied rest and lunch breaks. The
complaint also claims that four workers were fired in retaliation for
their attempts to unionize, and that firings were meant to coerce others
workers not to support the union organization at Ruby Ridge.
The workers are being supported by the United Farm Workers, said Anna
Reynoso, Hermiston-based lead organizer for the labor union.
The workers demand a jury trial unless they can come to a settlement
with dairy owners, said Mark Griffin, attorney for the workers.
Dick Bengen, who owns Ruby Ridge with his wife, told the Herald that he
hadn't yet been served with a copy of the lawsuit.
But he said he had been expecting it after organizers from the UFW
rejected his offer of seeking arbitration on the issue of union
formation at his dairy.
Bengen said the workers' claims are without merit. The employees were
dismissed for a range of work performance-related issues including
negligence and for following unsafe work practices, he said, not because
of their unionizing efforts.
"That would be illegal," he said.
The workers were dismissed before Bengen became aware of their potential
unionization plans in late July, he said. Ruby Ridge has more than 40
employees.
Also, many of the workers who are named in the lawsuit and are actively
trying to organize a union still work at the dairy, Bengen said. Ruby
Ridge workers get paid more than what they would make at similar
establishments in the area, he said.
But Bengen said he's opposed to unionization because a union can create
an adversarial relationship between the employer and the employees.
"It takes the fun away from dairy work," he said.
Bengen also denied that the workers who filed the lawsuit were denied
rest and lunch breaks. His dairy workers take mini-breaks when they talk
on their cell phones or to a fellow worker, he said. That is often more
than 20 minutes in an eight-hour shift, he said.
It's possible there's some confusion about lunch breaks, he said. Many
workers may not understand that the 30-minute break during a regular
shift is an unpaid one, Bengen said.
Most Ruby Ridge workers don't want a union, he said.
But UFW denies that, saying a majority of dairy workers recently signed
forms authorizing the formation of a union, Reynoso said.
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