More than twenty years ago, workers at Gerawan Farming, the nation’s largest grower of peaches, voted to have Cesar Chavez’ UFW union to represent them. But the union never secured a contract for wage increases and vacation time. As a contract was in the works, some workers recently organized to remove the union as their labor representative. A decertification election was conducted but now the vote count is on hold, pending an investigation by California’s farm labor board into alleged unfair labor practices by Gerawan. Representatives on both sides are invited to debate this critical ag-labor dispute.
Guests: José Erevia, Human Resources Manager, Gerawan Farming, Inc., Fresno, CA, www.gerawan.com ; Guadalupe Martínez, UFW representative, member of the negotiating committee with Gerawan, Fresno, CA, www.ufw.org ; Silas Shawver, Regional Director, California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Visalia, CA (interviewed from Los Angeles, CA), http://www.alrb.ca.gov/
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