L.A. City Council backs union contract for Fresno farmworkers

[Omaha Steve]

X post in GD & Labor

Mailer from the UFW below story.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-union-fresno-farmworkers-20141022-story.html

Video: http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=91002&siteSection=latimes_hom_non_sec&videoId=27910912


Hundreds of labor activists, farmworkers and their allies marched on Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday demanding that a Fresno fruit grower recognize a union contract -- the latest turn in a long-standing dispute over whether the United Farm Workers should represent the company's employees.

The marchers crowded into a City Council meeting, where lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution that calls on Gerawan Farming to immediately put a union contract in place. The resolution, presented by Councilman Paul Koretz, said that for most workers the contract would have provided roughly $1,480 in added pay over the course of the previous year.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-54482568/turbine/la-me-ln-union-fresno-farmworkers-20141022-001/1200/1200x675

A farmworker is handed a UFW "Si Se Puede" flag as she gets off a bus after it arrived in downtown Los Angeles from Fresno County on Wednesday. Labor activists and their allies packed City Hall to support a resolution urging Gerawan Farming to implement a union contract. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
"These matters affect all of us as Angelenos," Koretz said. "These workers may not work within our city limits, but the fruit they pick you buy and eat .... The men and women here with us today have been mistreated."

Wednesday's L.A. City Council vote has no binding effect on the Fresno grower. But UFW spokesman Marc Grossman said winning support from Los Angeles officials was important and took “a page out of Cesar Chavez’s playbook.”

FULL story at link.