OXNARD : UFW Plans Protest at Dole Chief’s Office

The United Farm Workers plan to protest the “illegal firings and racist comments” of Ocean View Produce, an Oxnard subsidiary of Dole Fresh Fruit Co., outside the company chairman’s Los Angeles offices today.

Hundreds of farm workers and union supporters, including UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, are expected to picket the Westwood offices of Dole Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David H. Murdock around noon.

The protesters intend to demand that the union be allowed to negotiate with the agribusiness giant on behalf of more than 600 Ocean View Produce workers, as well as other Dole employees in the Coachella Valley.

Rodriguez and one of two workers allegedly fired by Ocean View Produce for union activities plan to enter Murdock’s office and present him with 5,000 postcards from people threatening a boycott of Dole fruits and vegetables, said Irv Hershenbaum, UFW second vice president.

In their first action in Ventura County since the early 1990s, the UFW led an election in May to represent the Ocean View Produce workers, who voted 275 to 231 in favor of union representation. Eighty-seven ballots were contested by Dole, however, which claimed that the voters did not appear on a list of workers or were labor contractor employees who had no right to vote.

The state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which conducted the election, is examining the results to determine who really won. The board issued a complaint June 6 against Ocean View Produce for allegedly illegally firing the two farm workers and disciplining others involved in union organizing activities. The UFW is seeking a Superior Court order to have the workers reinstated pending resolution of the complaint.

In addition, the union alleges that an Ocean View agent told workers that “Mexicans are ignorant fools and animals,” and that the company threatened a UFW worker with violence.