How you can help Giumarra workers get a contract

[Omaha Steve]

https://secure.ga6.org/08/giumarra909

"I am organizing a union at Giumarra because I deserve to be treated with respect."
--Angelina Jimenez, Giumarra worker for the last 15 years

Your donation can help Giumarra workers get a union contract

Giumarra grape workers are asking for your help to put a stop to the exploitation they face on a daily basis. You’ve seen the stories we’ve sent you regarding the rampant abuse that they are subjected to. Please make your donation today.

Approximately one out of every ten bunches of grapes picked in the U.S. comes from workers who work at Giumarra--the nation's largest table grape grower. Their workers labor under the searing California sun doing a backbreaking job. Yet, for all their hard work, Giumarra refuses to treat these workers with even the most basic level of respect. This is plain wrong. Workers have come to the UFW and we've begun an organizing drive at this massive company.

This won't be easy. Giumarra has major resources and past experience has shown us that they will use them to fight having a union. The company is arrogant enough to act like it’s above the law. In 2006, a union election was thrown out by a labor board judge because of Giumarra's unlawful interference with worker rights.

But there isn't a choice. Workers should not have to endure the humiliation Giumarra heaps on them.

Mauricia Cabrillo has worked at Giumarra for 14 years. She tells us, "I am fighting for a union because I want to see better treatment of workers at Giumarra." She is tired of being humiliated--of the timeouts she and other workers are forced to endure. She knows having a union will make a difference. "For my first 11 years at Giumarra the company did not provide tables for us to pack on so we had to pack on our knees for 10-12 hours a day. When we began to organize in 2005, we finally got tables. To this day my knees continue to ache, swell, pop and crack on account of spending so much time on my knees."

Flavian Duque has worked at Giumarra for almost 21 years. For the majority of these years he has only earned minimum wage. "I want to have the United Farm Workers represent us because of the intense pressure that is placed on us...If we had union representation they would not be able to suspend us without cause."

Angelina Jimenez has been working at Giumarra for 15 years. She wants respect. She tells us how "often times the forelady tells us that we are stopped for 1-3 hours as a form of punishment." She says how these timeouts "are a way of pressuring us to work very quickly in extremely hot weather."

Angelina says, "I'm also organizing for a better health insurance plan. The current medical plan is worthless and barely covers Tylenol."

Your secure online donation of $10, $25, $50, $100, $250--or whatever you are able to give--is urgently needed to support this organizing drive. We need the funds for organizers, leaflets, gas and all the other daily expenses needed to keep the drive going. Please donate to help Mauricia, Angelina, Flavian and the other Giumarra workers win the protections of a union contract.

MORE info or donate at https://secure.ga6.org/08/giumarra909