Workers fired after speaking with UFW

A message from the United Farm Workers (UFW):

“A crew of fig workers need your immediate help. The workers with Stellar Distributing Inc. demonstrated support for the United Farm Workers by waving UFW black-eagle flags at an orchard near the Central Valley town of Madera, Calif. That was after union organizers met with them on Saturday, August 1. When the fig workers showed up for work Monday morning, August 3, a Stellar company supervisor told the crew there was no work for them.

We immediately went to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which enforces the law guaranteeing farm workers’ right to organize. We demanded the workers get their jobs back as their right to show union support is legally protected.he company’s illegal actions didn’t stop there. Later that day, UFW organizers went to the orchards to talk with other crews during their lunch break, another right guaranteed by the law.

The company’s response? Company agents chained the gates shut and used company vehicles to block the road onto the property.

This act is also illegal since California law guarantees the right of farm workers and union organizers to meet during non-working hours in the fields.

Take action today. Tell the grower to stop breaking the law and to rehire the fired fig workers. And tell it to stop blocking workers from speaking with the UFW. Click here to e-mail Stellar Distributing Inc. today.”

Photo courtesy of the UFW