2 Oxnard Women Join Sex Bias Suit Against Dole : Courts: Attorneys hope the claim naming Saticoy subsidiary becomes a class action representing more than 200 female employees.

Two Oxnard women who work at the Buenaventura Lemon Co. in Saticoy have joined a sexual discrimination lawsuit that attorneys hope will grow into a class action representing hundreds of other packinghouse workers.

The lawsuit served this week against the Dole Food Co. and two subsidiaries alleges systematic discrimination against women by paying them less than men, passing them over for promotions or not hiring them at all.

The Dole action is the last in a trilogy of lawsuits against Ventura County fruit packers claiming gender discrimination, but local agriculture representatives are uncomfortable discussing the allegations.

Officials at the Ventura County Farm Bureau and the Ventura County Agriculture Assn. declined to comment on the series of lawsuits.

Some industry watchers predict more litigation if women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts.

“Lawsuits will happen if there is any basis to allege there is some unequal treatment to men over women,” said Carmen Ramirez, the director of Channel Counties Legal Services, which is not involved in the labor suits.

“I think (discrimination) happens equally, but maybe these fruit packing industries are just a little more visible,” she said. “It’s not an uncommon thing in our country that women traditionally get paid less than men.”

In 1991, more than 75 women divided $550,000 when attorneys for the Saticoy Lemon Assn. agreed to settle a class action case alleging sexual bias. Still another suit filed in December, 1991, against the Oxnard Lemon Co. is currently being litigated.

Attorneys for the two Oxnard women claim that the Buenaventura Lemon Co., a subsidiary of Dole Foods, pays its male workers more money for the same work and regularly promotes men above women regardless of their length of service or job performance.

Three female employees of Central Valley Citrus--another Dole company that packages oranges in Tulare County--also joined the latest suit, which attorneys say could become a class action representing more than 200 women at a hearing scheduled this summer.

“Women in all sectors must be given an equal opportunity to support themselves and their families,” said Valeriano Saucedo, who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on behalf of the female workers.

“Any time you have sexual discrimination, you’re denying women the opportunity to compete in the labor marketplace,” said Saucedo, who also filed the other two lawsuits.

No one at Dole’s corporate offices in Westlake Village would comment on the suit, which seeks unspecified damages, back pay with interest, future employment assurances and an end to discriminatory practices.

Saucedo, who represents about 200 women in the Oxnard Lemon Co. case, said settlement negotiations in that suit were making progress until last week, when the company demoted one of the women from forklift operator to fruit grader.

“We saw that as retaliation and really a form of intimidation right before trial,” Saucedo said. “As a consequence we notified the defendants that negotiations were completely off until they displayed better faith in bargaining.”

A trial date in the Oxnard Lemon Co. suit is scheduled for Sept. 21 in Los Angeles, Saucedo said.

Ramirez said more and more women are feeling the pressure of earning enough money to provide for their families--regardless of whether a man in the family also works.