Labor Board Files Action on Pictsweet

Stepping into a bitter struggle between farm workers and Southern California’s largest mushroom plant, state labor lawyers have accused the Ventura County farm operator of systematically violating collective bargaining laws.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, representatives of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board allege that officials at Pictsweet Mushroom Farm in Ventura have failed to bargain in good faith with the United Farm Workers union and have undermined the union’s ability to represent workers.

UFW organizers hailed the complaint as a major victory for the plant’s 350 workers, who dig through compost beds--fortified with horse manure and set in a series of sunless bunkers near Ventura Harbor--to harvest more than 20 million pounds of mushrooms a year.

And it was held up as a potential remedy for the long-running labor dispute, a fight that has been punctuated over the past year by protests, plant layoffs and calls for a nationwide boycott of Pictsweet products.

“This validates what the workers have been saying all along, that the company has not been playing by the rules,” said UFW organizer Lupe Martinez, the union’s chief negotiator.

“I would hope this would help bring a quick resolution,” he said.

Pictsweet officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment. They have 10 days to respond to the charges. After that, a hearing will be set before an administrative law judge, who will decide if Pictsweet violated the law and whether remedies should be imposed.

That decision can be appealed to the labor board, which was established by state law in 1975 to referee farm labor disputes and oversee union elections.

The UFW early last year stepped up a campaign to win a contract at the mushroom farm. The union first won a contract at Pictsweet in 1975, but lost it in 1987 when the company was sold to Tennessee-based United Foods Inc.

However, the UFW has continued to represent the workers and has tried unsuccessfully since then to hammer out a new contract.

Union representatives say they want the company to provide dental and vision coverage for workers, less-costly medical insurance and a pension plan. They also want the company to boost wages by 5% for hourly employees and 5 cents a bucket for pickers paid by the piece. Currently, piece-rate workers earn 47 cents a bucket.

Company officials have said workers at the Ventura facility already receive wages and benefits comparable to those at other mushroom farms. They also note that workers receive three weeks’ paid vacation annually, raises every two years and automatic enrollment in the company’s profit-sharing plan.

Talks between union representatives and company negotiators, always sporadic at best, broke down in October.

To press the issue, the UFW launched a campaign to persuade supermarket chains, restaurants and retailers to boycott Pictsweet products--a call heeded by such companies as Vons and Ralphs.

The fight also has spurred a push to oust the UFW, with an opposition group forming last year in an effort to decertify the union as the workers’ representative.

One of the issues raised in the labor board’s complaint deals specifically with that issue. State attorneys alleged that the company granted one worker a job transfer in return for signing a decertification petition.

The labor board also accused Pictsweet officials of refusing to provide information to the UFW that it needed to conduct negotiations and of laying off pickers without consulting the union.

“I think what the labor board has done is very just,” Pictsweet worker Martin Meza said. during his lunch break Wednesday outside the plant.