UFW, Agribusiness Giant to Sign Contract

In a Salinas library named for Cesar Chavez and set in a neighborhood populated by the farm workers who were his followers, a peace treaty will be signed today between the labor union that Chavez founded and an agribusiness giant that was once among the union’s bitterest adversaries.

Leaders of the United Farm Workers and Salinas-based Bruce Church Inc., the nation’s third-largest lettuce grower, have reached agreement on a contract that ends nearly two decades of strife and litigation.

Arturo Rodriguez, Chavez’s son-in-law and successor as president of the UFW, and Steve Taylor, president of Bruce Church Inc. and grandson of its founder, will sign a five-year contract containing salary increases, medical and dental benefits and protection from pesticides for Church’s 400-plus workers.

“It has taken a lot of struggle and sacrifice to get this far,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. “We feel we have the chance for a true partnership with opportunities for both sides.”

“It’s been a long time getting to this point,” Taylor agreed. “Too much time and too many resources, on the part of management and the union, have been concentrated on the issues that have divided us.”

Phil Martin, professor of agricultural economics and a labor-management expert at UC Davis, said the contract is important because it ends “years and years of bad blood” between the UFW and Church.

“This is one of these disputes that was so bitter it took a new generation to sit down and settle it,” Martin said. “I doubt it could have been settled if Chavez and [Ted] Taylor were still alive.” Ted Taylor, father of Steve Taylor, headed Church when its fight with the UFW began.

The agreement with Church comes as the UFW, which sank to its nadir in the early 1990s, is showing renewed vigor. The union has won 11 new contracts in the past two years, and membership has increased to 24,000.

UFW membership is but 25% of what is was at the union’s zenith. But at a time when other unions are dwindling, the UFW’s growth has been a bright spot for the organized labor movement.

Rodriguez said he hopes the contract with Church will help the union’s efforts to win contracts for mushroom workers in Florida, workers at the Foster Farms chicken plant in the San Joaquin Valley and strawberry pickers in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

The contract between the UFW and Church calls for annual salary increases so that by the year 2001 workers will average $8.56 an hour. The company will pay for medical coverage for workers and their families and a seniority system will be established for the seasonal layoffs and recalls.

A safety committee will be established with union and management members to decide on matters involving pesticides and availability of protective clothing for workers. Housing allowances of $1 per hour will be provided for workers in certain locations.

In return, the union has promised not to strike. The company grosses $50 million annually.

The struggle between the Chavez-led UFW and the family-owned Bruce Church Inc. began in the late 1970s when the union and company could not agree on a contract renewal. The union said Church had unfairly fired UFW workers.

The UFW led a boycott of supermarkets selling Church’s lettuce under its Red Coach label. Church lashed back by suing the UFW in Yuma, Ariz., saying that the boycott was a violation of Arizona labor law and that the union had used slanderous tactics.

A multimillion-dollar judgment in favor of Church was overturned. During a retrial, the 66-year-old Chavez died April 23, 1993, after undergoing a second day of grilling by Church attorneys.

His untimely death led to accusations among farm workers that he had been killed by the Church lawsuit. The fight with Church became a crusade.

The retrial jury found in favor of Church, but again an appeals court overturned the verdict, saying that the case should have been tried in California rather than Arizona. Church officials in April decided to end the lawsuit and sign a contract.

“I give a lot of credit to Steve for this contract,” Rodriguez said. “He’s come to the point where he realized there is no use in fighting each other.”

Taylor said: “This agreement is consistent with the legacy of the company and with what my dad stood for. I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re going to have a very positive, productive relationship with the UFW.”