University of California
University of California5/31/97 Report -- The Post-Dispatch Staff, St. Louis
Monsanto Co. and the AFL-CIO said Friday that they had agreed
on a "framework" for future discussions to improve employment
and living conditions for California strawberry workers.
Joining in the announcement were the United Farm Workers, a
union try ing to organize 20,000 California strawberry
workers, and Gargiulo Inc., a Monsanto unit based in
Watsonville, Calif., the heart of California's strawberry
country.
Gargiulo is the nation's third-largest producer of fresh
strawberries. It has been the target of criticism by the UFW
and is the defendant in a suit filed by several strawberry
workers, alleging that it has violated state and federal wage
and safety laws. Gargiulo denies the charges.
The brief statement issued Friday falls short of supporting
requests by the unions that Gargiulo, Monsanto and other berry
companies sign a "neutrality agreement," promising they
wouldn't interfere with union efforts to organize the workers.
Strawberry companies have said that they respect the workers'
rights to choose. Union officials have accused the companies
of intimidating workers; the companies have lodged similar
charges against the UFW.
Friday's joint statement is the product of a meeting in early
May among Robert B. Shapiro, Monsanto's chairman and chief
executive; John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO; and
Arturo Rodriguez, president of the UFW.
The statement said the parties have developed "a framework for
a positive relationship that should result in an agreement
that protects the rights of workers to decide for themselves,
free from coercion . . . whether to join a union" as well as
the interests of the companies. Spokesmen for Monsanto and the
AFL-CIO declined to comment on when a formal agreement might
be signed. The parties added that the agreement "is expected
to define the areas of cooperation" between the union and the
company "that could promote a more robust U.S. agricultural
economy."