Lawmaker, PictSweet Workers to Meet Today

State Sen. Gloria Romero will meet with PictSweet mushroom workers today to hear about conditions inside the Ventura farm, and the lawmaker said she may follow up with recommendations to the Senate Labor Committee.

Romero (D-Los Angeles) said the meeting could lead to hearings and a full-scale investigation into working conditions and management at the plant.

“Right now I will be listening to testimony and I intend to come back and make recommendations,” said Romero, who sits on the Senate Labor Committee. “I will listen to issues of pay, abuse of workers and outmoded farm equipment. I want the workers treated fairly.”

The lawmaker was invited to Oxnard by the United Farm Workers, which is trying to unionize mushroom pickers. The workers, who earn 46 cents per bucket of mushrooms picked, are in a labor dispute with management. They complain of low wages and poor working conditions.

The UFW has called for a boycott of PictSweet mushrooms and at least one grocery chain--Vons--has stopped selling the product. Thirty-two workers have been laid off to date.

Don Dresser, a spokesman for United Foods Inc. of Bells, Tenn., which owns PictSweet, said he did not know of Romero’s visit. The company has said its wages are better than other mushroom plants.

“At some point there will be an election and employees will decide if they want to be represented by the UFW or not,” Dresser said. “It’s up to them.”