Wine Strikers Will Return to Jobs Next Week

Striking winery workers who Thursday accepted a management contract proposal under threat of losing their jobs will return to work beginning Monday, a spokesman for the wineries said Friday.

Robert Lieber, an attorney for the Winery Employers Assn., said the new contract, which includes pay cuts of 50 cents an hour and reduced employer pension contributions, will go into effect Monday and is retroactive to July 31. The contract terms are the same as those previously rejected by the strikers.

Employees of Bronco and Christian Bros. will not be called back to work until Wednesday or Thursday because of production schedules, Lieber said.

The new contract was approved by 66% of the Distillery, Wine and Allied Workers Union’s members after winery officials announced that they would begin permanently replacing striking workers. The ultimatum was issued after the union urged a statewide boycott against the 12 California wine makers involved in the seven-week strike.

Local 186 President Robert Fogg said union members would be returning to work with “a bitter taste in their mouths toward their employers” despite the association’s promise of no reprisals against strikers.