Workers Threaten to Strike, but Farm Says Demands Could Close Plant

As storm clouds billowed above the Santa Susana Mountains, laborers at Muranaka Farms performed what is becoming an almost weekly ritual: They marched, waved their red banners and threatened to strike if the company would not sign a contract to guarantee pay hikes and health benefits.

And company representatives did what has become their ritual: They kept quiet and put off negotiations a few more days.

Despite the workers’ bluster and the company’s hard line, the possibility of a strike looms large for both sides. Both have said this is a fight for survival.

Harry Muranaka, the president of the farming company his father started in the 1950s, said the union’s demands could force him to close his Ventura County operation.

“Our long-term viability in the county is threatened because of the stance that they’ve taken,” Muranaka said. “That’s why we’ve been focusing on Mexico.”

Muranaka would not provide figures on company profits. But the Produce Reporter, which publishes a credit and marketing guide for the produce and fruit industry, gave Muranaka one of its highest ratings. According to its 1994 Blue Book, Muranaka Farms could easily qualify for more than $1 million in credit.

Despite such robust reports, the number of acres Muranaka farms in Ventura County has fluctuated over the last 10 years from a high of 800 a few years ago to 450 this year. The farm’s acreage in Mexico has steadily climbed from 200 acres in the early 1980s to nearly 2,500 this year.

Muranaka said that because of cheaper labor the company can harvest more worker-intensive crops in Mexico. For instance, workers in Mexico trim and peel onions that are sold for a premium price to markets in England, Muranaka said. On the Moorpark farm, labor costs are too high to do similar work, he said.

The irony is that many of Muranaka’s workers immigrated from Mexico to claim the jobs that are now going south of the border. That point is not lost on his 150 Moorpark employees. But they still think Muranaka does not have to shift any more crops to Mexico to make a profit.

Many of the field hands and packinghouse workers have labored for the company for years. They say they have helped make it profitable, and they want a share in that success.

The workers--all represented by the United Farm Workers--have been without a contract since 1992, and without a raise since 1990.

Jose Fernandez, 36, heads union members at Muranaka Farms. A stocky man with a scruffy beard and mustache, Fernandez has worked for the company since 1973. It was not until 1988 that he got a raise, he said, and it took nearly five years of union pressure to get it. He now earns about $270 a week, harvesting crops on a piece rate.

“I’ve done about every single job there is to do on this farm,” he said. “There are a lot of workers, like me, who’ve been here a long time. We have expertise that can help keep them profitable, but they don’t want us involved. They’re not interested in what we know.”

The union is asking for salary increases of between 9% and 12% for all the company’s workers. And they are demanding health benefits.

The workers are in a precarious position. Earning from $12,000 to $14,000 a year, none of them have much money to fall back on if they go on strike, Fernandez said. Yet they have voted for a walkout if the company does not make them a good offer within the next week.

“We’re ready if we have to,” said worker Juan Herrera, 52, during a demonstration earlier this month. “All the people are behind striking if that’s what it takes.”

Herrera, who picks kale and leeks, is a member of a negotiating team selected by workers. A father of seven, he does not look forward to a strike. Times are tough enough, he said. A strike would be a tremendous burden for his family to bear.

“We’re hoping for something positive,” he said. “But if it has to be, we will strike.”

The union that represents Herrera and his fellow workers has also decided that Muranaka Farms is the right place to take a stand. Mario Brito, the union’s regional manager, said the union is emphasizing its push here because officials think a Muranaka contract is attainable. The union now represents workers at just five farming companies locally.

Once a stronghold of support, union membership in Ventura County dropped from 4,000 in the early 1980s to 500 this year.

Muranaka has said that the union’s focus on his company has hurt business, and made him less competitive with farms where workers are non-union.

“I don’t go around looking at what other companies pay their workers,” Muranaka said. “We make that decision based on our own economic situation. But we’ve had several employees leave to work at other companies, and a lot of them just end up coming back. That should tell you something.”

Muranaka said his company has always provided year-round employment for its workers.

“That’s something my father made a point of doing,” he said.

Muranaka’s biggest competitor in the county, the giant Boskovich Farms, uses seasonal workers and labor contractors to harvest its crops. While the pay is sometimes better, Boskovich only guarantees three or four months of work.

“We’re not singling out (Muranaka),” Brito said. “We don’t want to break any company. We want to help make them profitable. We’re just farther along at Muranaka. We’ll get to Boskovich soon enough.”

All of Muranaka’s workers are not behind the strike.

Muranaka employee Mike Magdelano, now a manager for the company, said he does not understand why the workers are threatening to strike.

“I think they know that this is about the best place for them to work,” Magdelano said, while checking parsley boxes being loaded onto trucks at Muranaka’s Moorpark packing plant.

Magdelano, who has worked for the company for 20 years, said Muranaka takes care of its employees.

“There’s opportunities to move up,” he said. “And if it’s better everywhere else, why do the workers always come back here?”

But union members argue that current conditions at the plant--safety and cleanliness--are more a result of their efforts than a reflection of the company’s good will. Year-round employment was not guaranteed until the union negotiated that benefit in the 1980s, Brito said.