Post by crudo on Nov 19, 2005 13:18:04 GMT -5
Foster Farms fires strikers
Initial action could spread to hundreds at Livingston chicken plant, official says
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
Foster Farms says it has given its final offer to union workers, shown picketing Friday outside the Livingston plant, the company's largest with 2,300 workers.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
Scores of workers picket outside the Foster Farms poultry plant in Livingston on Friday afternoon, yelling at passing passenger vans.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
By JOHN HOLLAND
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: November 19, 2005, 04:34:42 AM PST
LIVINGSTON — Foster Farms has fired 30 to 50 of its chicken plant workers for repeatedly going on strike, a company official said Friday.
The number could go into the hundreds if the start-and-stop strikes continue, said Tim Walsh, vice president of human resources at Foster Farms.
He said fired workers can apply for entry-level jobs at the plant.
Walsh did not have an exact figure for the firings, which started after workers Thursday launched their third short strike in less than a month.
The firings violated federal law, union officials said, and were aimed at workers who helped organize the walkouts.
Striker Jose Casanova, who is on the negotiating committee, said nonstriking employees saw his job on a plant bulletin board where vacancies are posted.
"It doesn't bother me at all, because I have to do what I have to do," said Casanova, a 20-year employee, who most recently worked transporting live chickens. He said he will confirm his status Monday, when strikers plan to return to work after the usual weekend closure.
Gurbax Samra, a forklift operator and member of the negotiating and organizing committees, said he, too, apparently has been fired.
"They are targeting only leaders," said Samra, a 27-year employee with three school-aged children. "Somebody called me and said they posted my job."
Walsh denied the targeting claim. He said the first terminations are in the higher-skilled jobs.
"We would work our way down the list of positions, but we are starting with those we need to have reliable people in," he said.
Labor leaders said as many as 1,100 of the plant's 2,300 workers have taken part in the strikes, but Walsh said only a minority did so and even fewer are participating in the latest action.
He said output at the plant — Foster Farms' largest, processing about 500,000 chickens on an average day — has not slackened. Pickets briefly slowed vehicles going in and out Friday, but police said the crowd once again was peaceful.
Contract offer final
The two sides have been deadlocked since May, in part over pay. Company officials, who said the average wage is about $10.50 an hour, have offered 35 cents in raises over three years. Union leaders claim that the average is about $9.50 and are seeking $1.50 in hikes over that time.
Foster Farms also rejects a demand that all workers be required to join the union. Workers organized last year as the League of Independent Workers of the San Joaquin Valley. It affiliated in September with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Foster Farms officials said their contract offer is final and they do not recognize the Machinists as the workers' representative.
"It is unfortunate that many employees will be losing their regular positions as a result of following this ill-advised labor union," the company said in a written statement Friday.
Foster Farms had not threatened to fire workers during thefirst two strikes, Oct. 25-28 and Nov. 3-4. A threat of firing helped end a two-week strike at the plant in 1997.
Union digging in for a fight
Federal law generally shields strikers from being fired. A 1994 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board said the protection can be lost if workers use intermittent strikes "to harass the company into a state of confusion." An agency spokesman said it would have to look at the details of the Foster Farms situation before deciding the issue.
An attorney for the Machinists, in a Nov. 10 letter, said the Livingston strikes are legal.
"Foster Farms is refusing to bargain with their union," attorney David Rosenfeld wrote. "This is plainly an unfair labor practice, and the employees have the right to strike to force the employer to recognize and bargain with the union to achieve a contract."
The union has leased office space in Livingston and is digging in for a fight, said Jesse Juarez, a Concord-based organizing director.
The Machinists can provide strikers with about $150 a week each to help meet their living expenses, once they become full members, he said.
Casanova said he was earning $14.50 an hour, more than most plant employees. The truck driver, whose children are grown, said the loss of income will be tough but he will stick with the cause if he finds he was indeed fired.
"We're just going to show up Monday and see what's going on," he said.
Initial action could spread to hundreds at Livingston chicken plant, official says
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
Foster Farms says it has given its final offer to union workers, shown picketing Friday outside the Livingston plant, the company's largest with 2,300 workers.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
Scores of workers picket outside the Foster Farms poultry plant in Livingston on Friday afternoon, yelling at passing passenger vans.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE
By JOHN HOLLAND
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: November 19, 2005, 04:34:42 AM PST
LIVINGSTON — Foster Farms has fired 30 to 50 of its chicken plant workers for repeatedly going on strike, a company official said Friday.
The number could go into the hundreds if the start-and-stop strikes continue, said Tim Walsh, vice president of human resources at Foster Farms.
He said fired workers can apply for entry-level jobs at the plant.
Walsh did not have an exact figure for the firings, which started after workers Thursday launched their third short strike in less than a month.
The firings violated federal law, union officials said, and were aimed at workers who helped organize the walkouts.
Striker Jose Casanova, who is on the negotiating committee, said nonstriking employees saw his job on a plant bulletin board where vacancies are posted.
"It doesn't bother me at all, because I have to do what I have to do," said Casanova, a 20-year employee, who most recently worked transporting live chickens. He said he will confirm his status Monday, when strikers plan to return to work after the usual weekend closure.
Gurbax Samra, a forklift operator and member of the negotiating and organizing committees, said he, too, apparently has been fired.
"They are targeting only leaders," said Samra, a 27-year employee with three school-aged children. "Somebody called me and said they posted my job."
Walsh denied the targeting claim. He said the first terminations are in the higher-skilled jobs.
"We would work our way down the list of positions, but we are starting with those we need to have reliable people in," he said.
Labor leaders said as many as 1,100 of the plant's 2,300 workers have taken part in the strikes, but Walsh said only a minority did so and even fewer are participating in the latest action.
He said output at the plant — Foster Farms' largest, processing about 500,000 chickens on an average day — has not slackened. Pickets briefly slowed vehicles going in and out Friday, but police said the crowd once again was peaceful.
Contract offer final
The two sides have been deadlocked since May, in part over pay. Company officials, who said the average wage is about $10.50 an hour, have offered 35 cents in raises over three years. Union leaders claim that the average is about $9.50 and are seeking $1.50 in hikes over that time.
Foster Farms also rejects a demand that all workers be required to join the union. Workers organized last year as the League of Independent Workers of the San Joaquin Valley. It affiliated in September with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Foster Farms officials said their contract offer is final and they do not recognize the Machinists as the workers' representative.
"It is unfortunate that many employees will be losing their regular positions as a result of following this ill-advised labor union," the company said in a written statement Friday.
Foster Farms had not threatened to fire workers during thefirst two strikes, Oct. 25-28 and Nov. 3-4. A threat of firing helped end a two-week strike at the plant in 1997.
Union digging in for a fight
Federal law generally shields strikers from being fired. A 1994 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board said the protection can be lost if workers use intermittent strikes "to harass the company into a state of confusion." An agency spokesman said it would have to look at the details of the Foster Farms situation before deciding the issue.
An attorney for the Machinists, in a Nov. 10 letter, said the Livingston strikes are legal.
"Foster Farms is refusing to bargain with their union," attorney David Rosenfeld wrote. "This is plainly an unfair labor practice, and the employees have the right to strike to force the employer to recognize and bargain with the union to achieve a contract."
The union has leased office space in Livingston and is digging in for a fight, said Jesse Juarez, a Concord-based organizing director.
The Machinists can provide strikers with about $150 a week each to help meet their living expenses, once they become full members, he said.
Casanova said he was earning $14.50 an hour, more than most plant employees. The truck driver, whose children are grown, said the loss of income will be tough but he will stick with the cause if he finds he was indeed fired.
"We're just going to show up Monday and see what's going on," he said.