UFW Files Objections in Balloting Dispute

The United Farm Workers union has filed hundreds of objections to a state-supervised vote by strawberry workers held earlier this month, prolonging a two-year drama that pits the venerated UFW against an independent workers’ committee. At stake is the right to represent 1,500 employees of the Watsonville-based Coastal Berry Co., the nation’s largest strawberry grower. The independent Coastal Berry of California Workers Committee leads by 90 votes, but 92 disputed ballots remain uncounted. The state Agricultural Labor Relations Board is investigating those challenges and might issue a finding next week. That still won’t settle the controversy. The ALRB must then turn to the 234 objections lodged by the UFW this week, which could take weeks or months to resolve. The UFW has waged a costly three-year campaign to organize strawberry workers but so far has gained only one small organic grower near Santa Cruz. It claims the state’s $782-million strawberry industry has used illegal methods to resist it, including the creation of company unions. The UFW maintains the Coastal Berry of California Workers’ Committee is such a front. However, committee members say they are ordinary workers who grew weary of aggressive UFW organizing tactics.