UFW ousted from Napa vineyard

The United Farm Workers union has been ousted from the first Napa Valley vineyards it successfully unionized more than four decades ago, a move that could further erode the union?s influence in Wine Country.

The state Agricultural Labor Relations Board on Wednesday certified the results of an election removing the UFW from representing workers at Vista Vineyard Management in St. Helena.

Of the 60 workers who voted in the June 2008 election, 39 voted against the union, 18 voted to keep it and three votes were contested, said Sam Turner, the company?s president.

?I?m glad that the workers got to decide for themselves their representation,? Turner said.

Most workers who voted against the union resented paying the UFW 2 percent of their wages, Turner said.

But UFW organizer Casimiro Alvarez said the vote is another example of big wine companies turning to contract labor forces to undermine the union founded by Cesar Chavez in the 1960s.

?In the Napa and Sonoma areas, I?m very clear the grape industry is fighting against the union,? Alvarez said. ?They are putting a lot of money to destroy the union.?

The vote is the latest setback to the UFW?s efforts to hold on to gains it made unionizing farmworkers in Wine Country. The union was ousted from Sonoma-Cutrer in 2003 and from Saralee?s Vineyards in Windsor in 2007.

But the union has proven itself skilled at thwarting efforts to pry it loose from some vineyards. In 2004, it reversed a vote to evict it from E&J Gallo?s vineyard operations in Sonoma County. It has also blocked a similar 2007 vote by Gallo vineyard workers in Sonoma County, although an anti-union worker has appealed the vote.

And last year it reversed its 2006 ouster at Charles Krug Winery, winning the reinstatement of its 24 workers.

In the Vista case, it took nearly a year for the results of the 2008 election to become official.

It started when agricultural employee Cecilio Samario filed a petition to decertify the union, triggering an election. The UFW filed a variety of unfair labor practices over the vote, which caused the ALRB to impound the ballots. Once those and other charges were dismissed by the ALRB, the ballots were counted April 8.

The UFW made various appeals, contending it had not been given an accurate list employee contact information, Turner said.

The union made the same charge against Gallo Vineyards, Inc., its largest contract on the North Coast, over a 2007 vote. An administrative law judge ruled last month the vote to oust the union should be overturned because the company gave the union an employee list with at least 75 invalid addresses. The ruling is being appealed.

At Vista, however, there were only four errors on the employee list, and the ALRB dismissed the union?s appeals, Turner said.

Alvarez said Vista has steadily reduced the number of unionized workers it employs while increasing the number of workers hired through farm labor contractors. He contends the company intentionally hired more non-union contract workers to reduce the union?s influence.

He also predicted the workers will likely lose the wages, between $9 and $12 an hour, and benefits they enjoy.

Turner denied both claims. He said he has increased the number of sub-contracted workers, but only because they allow him greater flexibility and increased productivity. And he vowed to maintain workers? wages at current levels.

?We?re going to continue treating them with respect and dignity and continue the wages and a similar benefits package,? Turner said.

The contract was one of the UFW?s first in the state and its longest-running.

The 1967 agreement was originally struck with Christian Brothers Winery, which was later sold to Heublein, which morphed into British drinks giant Diageo. The contract covered workers farming about 435 acres of vineyards, Turner said.