Resnicks’ wonderful shutter farm UFW tries to join forces

One of California’s largest agricultural employers plans to close Central Valley Nursery by the end of this year after laying off hundreds of employees, including many supporting the efforts of joint farm workers to make the labor force alliance.

Wonderdy Co., owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, plans to close most nurseries in Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield and donate the farm to UC Davis, a representative of the company confirmed this week.

The move is because the excellent nursery is still locked in a battle with the UFW after last year’s union petition to represent workers who grow grapes and use a new state “card” law that makes it easier for organizers to sign workers. Company officials said their decision had nothing to do with it.

“The decision to end a great nursery is purely a business decision, and the fraud associated with our ongoing litigation or fraud with UFW is by no means a form or form,” said Seth Oster, a spokesperson for Wonderful Company.

In February, Rob C. Yraceburu, the president of the outstanding nursery, said in an email to employees that the state’s agricultural industry has seen thousands of acres of orchards and vineyards abandoned or removed. The table and wine grape industry is in a state of severe recession, which means a huge reduction in sales and record losses such as their nurseries, with no expectations that a shift will take place soon. ”

However, some labor experts and excellent employees are questioning the timing of layoffs, and it was time to start after UFW won a major legal victory in organizing the workforce efforts.

Victor Narro, a professor of labor studies at UCLA, said closures and donations to UC Davis should be reviewed.

“The question is, what is the reason for them to do this?” he said. “At the end of the day, is it true that the union that avoids the labor force is avoiding it? Or is it really making informed financial decisions?”

UFW has not directly accused Resnicks of retaliating against workers’ support by closing the farm. However, it has raised questions about the timing of layoffs and confirmed this week.

Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic sports at the league, said the 1,400-acre nursery hired about 600 workers who were part of the bargaining department, but now only 20 workers work in the facility. Overall, the company works there now.

Yraceburu told employees that closing the grape nursery will have a Phastown. He said workers, including workers employed by farm labor contractors, will have the opportunity to apply for other excellent staff. A spokesman for one company said no other good farms faced a similar labor force.

Oster said the nursery has been operating in huge losses for several years, but he didn’t say how long or how much it was lost.

Once the university controls the nursery, whether UC Davis will immediately recognize the farm union.

UC Davis spokesman Bill Kisliuk said in a statement that the university thanked the gift, which included the WASCO facility, plus a $5 million startup donation. Kisliuk said the university will form an implementation committee to plan to use the facility.

He said that while the university has a long history of respecting labor agreements, the academic purpose of the site will be very different from the current commercial operations.

“This gift expands and builds on one of the world’s leading agricultural research programs and will catalyse discovery and innovation,” he said. “We look forward to working with this amazing company to successfully transfer the WASCO facilities and property to later this year.”

These people are important donors to state politicians and charities, but their charity has been the goal of organizing work lately. In late July, UFW and other labor organizers gathered outside the Hammer Museum, the recipient of the Resnicks’ more than $30 million donation, which owns a building named after them. The party comes after a video released by the union that appears to show a great employee paying other workers to participate in anti-union protests.

In the video, the worker, who has been the forefront of anti-union advocates and organized protests, was believed to have distributed $100 bills from the trunk of the car and encouraged workers to sign a sheet. In a separate video, she can be heard instructed to feed each person first, distribute $100, and then they will receive an additional $50.

The unedited video version was presented at a hearing to the Administrative Law Judge of the National Agricultural Labor and Industrial Relations Commission, where the Wonderful Company challenged UFW’s petition to represent nursery employees. The board oversees collective bargaining of migrant workers in the state and investigates allegations of unfair labor practice.

A great nursery at Wasco.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Now, it’s great to close its WASCO Grape Nursery, it’s not clear what’s going to happen in the lawsuit, as soon as there will be no workers coming to the union. But the board may issue a ruling to influence future disputes.

UFW and Wonderdy Co. have made charges over the past year: The company accused the coalition of using $600 in federal relief funds in Covid-19 to lure migrant workers into signing authorization cards. The company submitted nearly 150 signed statements to nursery staff saying they did not understand this by signing the voting card.

UFW rejected the allegations and filed a payment in the video to protest union efforts back and forth a year ago.

For the past six years, Rosa M. Silva, an outstanding nursery worker, said long-standing tensions have been holding high spirits in nurseries, and some colleagues say they are not entitled to ask for a raise or benefit. She said she thought the company would rather close child care so avoid negotiating with them, an excellent refusal.

In July, Silva took a day off and gathered outside the Hammer Museum. Protesters distributed leaflets that read: “Tell the Billionaire owner of Qite Company: Respect farm workers. Stop spending money to fight union farm workers.”

“This is the message I gave to Resnicks: If you can give this art museum millions, most of your workers will never visit, why can’t you pay your workers something fair?” she said during the protest. “If you care so much about the respect of artists and art lovers, why can’t you respect the people who grow, grow and harvest the products you sell?”

UFW filed a petition to the Labor Commission last February, claiming that most of the more than 600 farm workers at WASCO’s outstanding nursery have signed authorization cards and require UFW to prove to be its union representative.

At the time, it seemed that UFW won the third union drive in a few months, after a decline in membership rates over the past few years.

Under the law, unions can sign authorization cards at live meetings without notifying their employer. Under the old rules, farm workers voted on union representatives at a polling location designated by the state labor commission, usually on employer property. After that, state law revitalized union organization efforts and continued to organize other farms.

Wonderful people sued the state for stopping signature laws. A Kern County Superior Court judge’s ruling was replaced by the Court of Appeal in October with a “possible unconstitutional” decision based on a “possible unconstitutional” decision that the court is still reviewing the case.

Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Center for Community and Labor, said the Central Valley has been covered in anti-union messaging since the passage of the Cardan law.

She also questioned the timing of closing Wasco Nursery. “Breakdowns, store closures and unloading organized staff are all part of the anti-unionist script,” she said.

This article is part of the Times Equity Reporting Plan,,,,, Depend on James Irving FoundationExplore the challenges faced by low-income workers and their efforts to solve them California’s economic divide.