One in every of California’s largest agricultural employers plans to shut a Central Valley grape nursery by the top of the yr after shedding lots of of staff, together with many supportive of a United Farm Staff effort to unionize the workforce.
Fantastic Co., owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, plans to close down the vast majority of the nursery in Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield, and donate the farm to UC Davis, representatives for the corporate and the college confirmed this week.
The transfer comes as Fantastic Nurseries stays locked in a battle with the UFW after the union final yr petitioned to characterize staff rising grapevines, utilizing a brand new state “card test” legislation that made it simpler for organizers to enroll staff. Firm officers stated their resolution was unrelated to that.
“The choice to wind down Fantastic Nurseries was purely a enterprise resolution and under no circumstances, form or kind associated to our ongoing litigation with the UFW or the fraud so many farm staff reported by the union,” Fantastic Co. spokesman Seth Oster stated.
In February, Fantastic Nurseries President Rob C. Yraceburu stated in an e mail to staff that the state’s agricultural business has seen tens of hundreds of orchard and winery acres deserted or eliminated. The desk and wine grape business is in a significant downturn, which means nurseries reminiscent of theirs have seen “considerably decreased gross sales and file losses, with no expectation of a turnaround anytime quickly.”
But some labor specialists and Fantastic staff are questioning the timing of the layoffs, which began simply 5 months after the UFW received a key authorized victory in its effort to arrange the workforce.
Victor Narro, a labor research professor at UCLA, stated the closure and donation to UC Davis must be scrutinized.
“The query is, what’s the rationale they’re doing it?” he stated. “Is it actually, ultimately, to keep away from unionization of the workforce? Or is it actually that they’re making a sound monetary resolution?”
The UFW has in a roundabout way accused the Resnicks of retaliating towards staff supportive of the union by closing the farm. Nevertheless it has raised questions concerning the timing of each the layoffs and this week’s affirmation the nursery could be closed.
The doorway to Fantastic Nurseries on March 25, 2024, in Wasco, Calif.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Occasions)
At its seasonal peak, the 1,400-acre nursery employs about 600 staff who would have been a part of the bargaining unit, however now solely 20 nonetheless work on the facility, stated Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for the union. General, about 100 staff now work there, in line with the corporate.
Yraceburu informed staff there will likely be a phasedown in shutting the grape nursery. Staff, together with these employed by farm labor contractors, may have a possibility to use for different Fantastic worksites, he stated. An organization spokesman stated no different Fantastic farm is dealing with an identical discount in workforce.
The nursery has been working at a big loss for a number of years, Oster stated, however he didn’t say for a way lengthy or simply how a lot it has misplaced.
It was not instantly clear whether or not UC Davis will acknowledge the farmworkers union as soon as the college takes management of the nursery.
In an announcement, UC Davis spokesperson Invoice Kisliuk stated the college is grateful for the reward, which incorporates the Wasco facility mixed with a $5-million startup donation. The college will kind an implementation committee to plan the use of the power, Kisliuk stated.
Though the college has a protracted historical past of respecting labor agreements, he stated, the tutorial use of the location will likely be considerably totally different from the present business operation.
“This reward expands and builds upon one of many world’s main agricultural analysis packages and can catalyze discovery and innovation,” he stated. “We stay up for working with the Fantastic Firm to efficiently switch the Wasco services and property to the College later this yr.”
The Resnicks are massive donors to state politicians and charities, however their philanthropy has been the goal of current union organizing efforts. In late July, UFW and different labor organizers gathered exterior the Hammer Museum, the recipient of greater than $30 million in donations from the Resnicks, who’ve a constructing named after them. The gathering got here after the union launched a video that appeared to point out a Fantastic worker paying different staff to take part in an anti-union protest.
Within the video, the employee, who has been a forefront anti-union advocate and has organized protests, is seen handing out $100 payments from the trunk of a automotive and inspiring staff to signal a sheet. In a separate video, she may be heard saying that she was directed to first feed everybody, hand out $100 after which they’d obtain an extra $50.
The unedited variations of the movies have been proven throughout a listening to earlier than an administrative legislation decide for the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the place Fantastic Co. has challenged the UFW’s petition to characterize the nursery staff. The board oversees collective bargaining for farmworkers within the state and likewise investigates fees of unfair labor practices.
Fantastic Nurseries in Wasco.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Occasions)
Now that Fantastic is closing its Wasco grape nursery, it’s unclear what is going to occur within the proceedings, as a result of there’ll quickly be no staff to unionize. However the board may concern a ruling that might have an effect on future disputes.
The UFW and Fantastic Co. have traded accusations over the past yr: The corporate accused the union of utilizing $600 in COVID-19 federal aid funds to trick farmworkers into signing the authorization playing cards. The corporate submitted practically 150 signed declarations from nursery staff saying that they had not understood that by signing the playing cards they have been voting to unionize.
The UFW has rejected these accusations and, with the video, is suggesting that staff have been paid to protest towards the unionization effort on the top of the back-and-forth a yr in the past.
Rosa M. Silva, a Fantastic Nurseries employee for the final six years, stated tensions have lengthy been working excessive on the nursery, with some co-workers saying they don’t have a proper to ask for raises or advantages. She stated she believes that the corporate would fairly shut down the nursery to keep away from negotiating with them, a declare that Fantastic has forcefully rejected.
In July, Silva took a break day work and rallied exterior the Hammer Museum. Protesters handed out fliers that learn: “Inform Fantastic Firm’s billionaire homeowners: Respect the farm staff. Cease spending cash combating the United Farm Staff.”
“That is my message to the Resnicks: if you happen to can provide hundreds of thousands to this artwork museum, which a majority of your staff won’t ever go to, why can’t you additionally pay your staff one thing honest?” she stated on the protest. “If you happen to care a lot about being revered by artists and lovers of artwork, why can’t you respect the individuals who plant, develop and harvest the merchandise you promote?”
The UFW filed its petition with the labor board in February final yr, asserting {that a} majority of the 600-plus farmworkers at Fantastic Nurseries in Wasco had signed the authorization playing cards and asking that the UFW be licensed as their union consultant.
On the time, it seemed to be the UFW’s third victorious unionization drive in a matter of months — following diminishing membership charges over the past a number of years.
Below the legislation, a union can arrange farmworkers by inviting them to signal authorization playing cards at off-site conferences with out notifying their employer. Below the previous guidelines, farmworkers voted on union illustration by secret poll at a polling web site designated by the state labor board, sometimes on employer property. The state legislation has since revitalized the union’s organizing efforts, and it has gone on to arrange different farms.
Fantastic has sued the state to cease the card-check legislation. A ruling by a Kern County Superior Court docket decide that discovered the certification course of underneath the card-check legislation as “probably unconstitutional” was outdated in October by an appellate courtroom, which remains to be reviewing the case.
Ana Padilla, government director of the UC Merced Group and Labor Middle, stated the Central Valley has been blanketed with anti-union messaging ever for the reason that passage of the card-check legislation.
She additionally questioned the timing of shutting down the Wasco nursery. “Layoffs, retailer closures and offloading organized worksites are all a part of the anti-unionism playbook,” she stated.
This text is a part of The Occasions’ fairness reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Basis, exploring the challenges dealing with low-income staff and the efforts being made to deal with California’s financial divide.
