OXNARD : UFW Criticizes Grower at Rally

The United Farm Workers union held a rally outside an Oxnard Dole subsidiary Wednesday, demanding that the grower honor a recent state ruling giving the union the right to represent its workers.

Mario Brito, head of the UFW’s Oxnard bureau, and about 40 agricultural laborers lambasted Ocean View Produce for refusing to accept a decision by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. The ruling granted the UFW the right to negotiate collectively with Dole on behalf of Ocean View Produce’s workers.

“We took our lunchtime to do this,” said laborer Jose Oros, one of the organizers of the unionizing effort at Ocean View Produce. “This is our way of pressuring Dole, to let them know that the fight is not over, that we want a contract.”

UFW leaders and Dole had been at odds since last year, when workers at Ocean View Produce voted to join the union. Dole representatives refused to accept the results, contending that the election was flawed. And the day the results were announced, the grower said it had given up on growing strawberries and was plowing under its strawberry crop--laying off 450 of its 600 workers.

Dole representatives said the move was strictly business, arguing that the strawberry operation had not made money in five years. But UFW leaders said the move was an attempt to prevent workers from organizing in the future.

Dole filed a complaint with the ALRB, alleging that UFW representatives intimidated workers into voting to join the union. But the complaint was dismissed earlier this month, and the ALRB certified that the UFW could represent the Ocean View Produce workers.

Dole spokesman Tom Pernice denied UFW charges that the company has already decided to ignore the latest ruling.

“That decision was just made and we’re reviewing it currently,” Pernice said. “We haven’t indicated anything either way.”