University of California

9/22/98 -- San Francisco Examiner

Vineyard workers vote for the UFW

Election comes after grape pickers struck for better pay

September 22, 1998

By ERIC BRAZIL
of the Examiner staff

Pickers at Anderson Vineyards, Inc., a Mendocino County grape-producer for Roederer Estate champagne, voted Monday to be represented by the United Farm Workers union. UFW's 27-18 victory in the election conducted by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board came 11 days after pickers struck for better pay one day after the start of the 1998 harvest.

What made the election unusual is that "the workers struck first and then came to us," said UFW spokesman Marc Grossman.

Anderson Vineyards Inc., a 580-acre operation, is wholly owned by Roederer, the French maker of champagnes regarded as among the world's finest. It grows Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.

Grape pickers struck on Sept. 10 after rejecting a company offer of $90 a ton for grapes - to be divided among themselves and the company's tractor drivers.

In the aftermath of the strike, the company upped its offer to $95 a ton and agreed to pay tractor drivers separately.

Gregory Balogh, general manger of Anderson Vineyards Inc., said that the company "has a long history of taking care of its employees" and that "obviously, the problem arose during our peak season, when seasonal employees make up a large proportion of our workforce."

Under California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act, farm elections must be held when the work force is at its peak.

The company, according to a prepared statement, "is currently reviewing its legal and negotiation options" and has hired a labor consultant, which is an indication that UFW may find obtaining a contract harder than winning the election.

Monday's election victory is UFW's third this year in Northern California. It recently reached contract agreements with Baletto Farms in Sonoma County, the North Coast's biggest vegetable grower, and with Vista Management Co., which employs 75 vineyard workers in the Napa Valley.

But the union also suffered a major defeat in its three-year campaign to organize the Central Coast strawberry industry, when an ad hoc union whose agenda was to defeat UFW won an election to represent workers at Coastal Berry Inc. of Watsonville.

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