STATEMENT OF POLICY
IN SUPPORT OF THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
The ILWU made a serious commitment to organizing more than a decade ago. Dozens of organizing campaigns the union has run since then have given us a close look at the limitations of labor law. Current labor law does little to protect workers who try to organize and less to punish employers who break the rules. The Employee Free Choice Act now in Congress aims to change that and make organizing faster and fairer.
Under the current National Labor Relations Act process, employers can violate the law now and pay later, if at all. The average time between filing unfair labor practice charges and getting an NLRB decision on those charges is two years. If the decision comes down for the workers, the employer at most will have to cough up back pay plus interest for any workers fired illegally. Other violations, such as threats to close the plant, carry no penalties. The employer simply has to post a notice promising not to misbehave again. In the meantime, it can enjoy the fruit of its crime: a scared and pliable workforce.
No wonder employers routinely break the law during organizing drives: 25% of employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing drives and 51% of employers illegally threaten to close up shop if the union wins the election.
The workers at the Rite Aid distribution center in Lancaster and at Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento, organizing to join ILWU Locals 26 and 17, have felt the sting of these illegal employer tactics.
The ILWU filed 11 unfair labor practice charges against Rite Aid over 38 separate violations of the law. These included firing four workers, disciplining, demoting and interrogating others and funding anti-union employees. The Board is investigating these charges. Meanwhile the fired workers wait and wonder whether they can make rent, and the chill of fear spreads through the warehouse.
Last spring the NLRB found Blue Diamond guilty of more than 20 labor law violations, including firing union supporters, threatening the workers with plant closure and loss of pensions and other benefits and interrogating workers about their union sympathy. The company complied with the Board’s order to re-hire two fired workers—then illegally fired and disciplined other union supporters, drawing more Board complaints.
Current law not only gives employers free rein to poison the atmosphere before an election, but also builds opportunities for bureaucratic delay into the election process itself. The employer can challenge the composition of the bargaining unit, as Rite Aid did, or challenge the outcome of the election, tying the issue up in court and denying workers representation while they do so.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA), would change the law by setting harsher penalties for employers who break the law during organizing drives; making card-check recognition the standard route to union representation, and setting arbitration and mediation agreements for first contracts.
The ILWU International Executive Board fully supports passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and urges the Democratic leadership in Congress to put the Act among its top priorities.
STATEMENT OF POLICY TO BOYCOTT FRESH DEL MONTE PRODUCE
For more than 100 years, Del Monte (or its predecessors) has been growing pineapple in Hawaii. Organized almost 50 years, most of the workers have been members of the ILWU Local 142.
Since 1996, the company has been owned by the Abu Ghazaleh family of United Arab Emirates and headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hawaii operation is called Del Monte Fresh Produce (Hawaii), Inc. Its parent corporation is Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., and indications are that all major decisions for Hawaii are controlled and determined by Fresh Del Monte Produce.
On February 1, 2006, Del Monte announced plans to shut down its Hawaii operations in 2008. The announcement came as a shock to the company’s 700 employees. Nevertheless, they were relieved to know they had at least two years to prepare themselves for the shutdown. They needed the time to find new jobs and possibly training for new careers, especially since most of them had little education and experience other than in pineapple work.
Local 142 started bargaining with Del Monte believing it had two years before the complete closure. In the bargaining, Del Monte, directed by its corporate office, was giving virtually nothing additional to ease the workers in their transition from Del Monte, especially refusing to consider additional medical coverage protection, severance pay, or financial assistance to transfer Kunia Camp, home to some 120 families, from the company’s control.
In August 2006, the ILWU Local 142 filed an unfair labor practice with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board alleging unlawful conduct and unlawful bargaining. In September 2006, Fresh Del Monte Produce relocated the general manager in Hawaii to operations in Kenya and appointed to the position the human resources director in Hawaii, who had little or no practical experience in pineapple operations.
Then, abruptly, on November 17, 2006, Del Monte announced immediate closure of the Hawaii operations. No more harvesting, no more packing, no more Del Monte pineapple in Hawaii. All of the crop in the ground would be plowed under. Because of the company’s repeated assurances to the workers and their union that operations in Hawaii would continue into 2008, the workers felt betrayed.
The company’s actions mean that all pineapple marketed under the Del Monte label will be grown outside of the U.S. The company has taken the technology and even seed material for the highly successful MD-2 variety of pineapple from Hawaii and the U.S. to grow in other countries where labor costs are cheap and labor standards are low.
Del Monte’s behavior contrasts with other plantations that have shut down in Hawaii and have provided for financial assistance for the workers and have cooperated with the union to help with the transition. Del Monte has demonstrated that it has no more use for Hawaii and, unless legally compelled, will likely not provide workers any more than it must under the current collective bargaining agreement. By its actions, Del Monte has shown that it is not a good corporate citizen.
Corporations that squeeze value from U.S. resources and labor and then run away to do business in other countries should be held accountable for their actions. The ILWU condemns the actions of Del Monte and, and because of the conduct of Del Monte in Hawaii and the parent company, ILWU members and their families shall boycott all products of Fresh Del Monte Produce, especially pineapple. The ILWU urges all who support justice to join in the boycott of Fresh Del Monte Produce.
