You may have heard about a campaign by 900 immigrant workers at a place called Taylor Farms in Tracy who are organizing with the Teamsters union. Maybe you thought that it’s interesting, but it’s over the hill in Tracy. Or maybe you’ve never heard of Taylor Farms, so you think it doesn’t affect you. Time to think again.
Have you ever eaten at McDonald’s, Subway, or KFC? Did you ever buy bagged vegetables at UFCW and Teamster-represented grocery stores like Safeway, Raley’s or Costco? Then you’ve eaten Taylor Farms produce before. Your kids might be eating Taylor Farms produce from their school cafeterias. The company also supplies bagged vegetables to Walmart and the Darden Restaurant chain, which includes Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
Taylor Farms is the world’s largest salad processing company, with $1.8 billion in revenues in 2012. Over in Salinas, roughly 2,500 Taylor Farms workers have enjoyed union representation from the Teamsters for nearly 20 years. They earn decent wages, have affordable health care, paid sick days, retirement security, and more. But Taylor Farms is a Jekyll and Hyde company, for the non-union workers in Tracy average $2-3/hr. less doing the same work for the same company. Workers making $8/hr — the California minimum wage — pay $80/week for health insurance. The math doesn’t make sense. In Tracy, workers are fired when they are injured. Taylor Farms doesn’t accommodate them when they need time off to take care of a sick family member, when they are pregnant, or even when they need a break to use the bathroom.
To make matters worse, roughly 1/3rd of the workers are employed through two temporary agencies. Many workers have been there for 5 years, 10 years, or longer — there is nothing “temporary” about their employment. But this scheme allows Taylor Farms to play a shell game any time a worker files a worker’s compensation claim, a wage claim, and more.
Fed up with this, the Tracy workers started organizing with the Teamsters last August. The company unleashed a brutal suppression campaign, firing more than a dozen workers, threatening others, and retaliating against them. When the workers held an election in March, the National Labor Relations Board took the almost unprecedented step of impounding the ballots without counting them. This was in response over 50 Unfair Labor Practice charges and the concern that the company’s egregious behavior would taint the outcome of the election. The NLRB is holding the ballots while they investigate the charges.
Taylor Farms is also being investigated by the California Labor Commissioner and Cal/OSHA. Workers have flooded the Capitol on three separate occasions to push for Assembly Bill 1897 by Assembly Labor and Employment Committee Chair Roger Hernandez. AB 1897 would hold companies like Taylor Farms accountable when their temporary agencies break California labor laws. The bill passed the Assembly and heads to Senate Labor this Wednesday.
The workers at Taylor Farms are getting tremendous support from community allies, elected officials, and other labor unions. In Silicon Valley, Working Partnerships USA is taking the lead. At the state level, the California Labor Federation and many labor councils are pushing this cause. And throughout the country, the Food Chain Workers Alliance is engaging people and policy makers around questions of a sustainable and just food production system.
On Thursday, June 12th, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa will join the workers in Tracy for a rally at 4 pm. Shuttle service is available from the Tracy Outlet Malls starting at 2:30 pm (take the MacArthur Blvd. exit off I-205), or if you are getting dropped off at the rally the address is 1820 MacArthur Blvd. There is no parking available on site.
Please come out and show your support for these workers!
Doug Bloch is the Political Director for Teamsters Joint Council 7
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