Marquez workers to continue fight for Teamsters

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anti-union bosses at the Marquez Brothers cheese facility in Hanford, Calif., have thrown everything at their Teamster workers in an effort to crack their resolve. But employees there are not backing down.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though the unscrupulous employer recently decided against recognizing the union, </span><a href="http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/marquez-union-supporters-press-on-despite-setbacks/article_2247ffe6-1fb0-11e3-a9ef-0019bb2963f4.html" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">workers on Oct. 4 will vote</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to continue their fight for fair wages and safe working conditions. The company has not bargained in good faith since workers decided to join the union in August 2012, and talks have stalled. Marquez went so far as to </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/marquez-brothers-now-stalling-in.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">spread lies that Teamsters were going to call a strike</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, even though such an action is up to the workers themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Most workers make $9 an hour at the plant. The union’s bargaining unit initial sought $12 hour, but later lowered it to $11.50. The company, however, never budged beyond $9.10.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If sabotaging negotiations wasn’t bad enough, Marquez went further. </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/04/employers-brutal-union-busting-tactics.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They hired an expensive union-busting law firm to tail a worker who testified</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> at a legislative hearing in Sacramento back in March. Although lawmakers called out the company and attorneys for their actions, the worker – a mother of four – was later fired.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Partly because of that case, </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/teamsters-tout-approval-of-worker-intimidation-bills.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">state legislation was enacted earlier this month</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> that bars employers from intimidating immigrant workers for reporting illegal pay or working conditions by threatening to call immigration officials.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marquez workers said they are ready to continue their fight. Cheese weigher Juan Cruz said:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we win, we’ll be sending a very strong message to the owners.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Teamster strong!<o:p></o:p></span><br />

Marquez Brothers Teamsters union worker intimidation Marquez workers to continue fight for Teamsters

Anti-union bosses at the Marquez Brothers cheese facility in Hanford, Calif., have thrown everything at their Teamster workers in an effor...

Read more »

No ICE for Calif. employers

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Teamsters are </span><a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/36918ac5bb385db694_aqm6iypcd.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hailing the passage of a trio of California bills</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> this week that protect immigrant workers from abusive employers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The measures crack down on retaliation when workers attempt to organize or speak out against unfair treatment or wage theft. They now head to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk for his consideration.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1uNTNdy-iRKEqLpREvl4d5sHu0vCAJPT11UUDycaewVpZQ9CJMewXAXIeUaU4q-tCdxHlk5QadvqeblFSrDghgrfnIkLisu_HJ44ChwAZVl_-LI_UiE7v_Z_AveTU0KiYWKY-GmQH44g/s1600/7.12.13gov.brown.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1uNTNdy-iRKEqLpREvl4d5sHu0vCAJPT11UUDycaewVpZQ9CJMewXAXIeUaU4q-tCdxHlk5QadvqeblFSrDghgrfnIkLisu_HJ44ChwAZVl_-LI_UiE7v_Z_AveTU0KiYWKY-GmQH44g/s320/7.12.13gov.brown.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The governor has until Oct. 13 to act on all three bills.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">AB 263, offered by Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, and SB 666, sponsored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, are identical versions of the same bill. They help enforce basic labor laws by barring bosses from calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after working condition complaints are filed against the business. AB 524, offered by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, prohibits similar threats against workers who file complaints about not being paid fairly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Art Pulaski, the California Labor Federation’s executive secretary-treasurer, said the legislation plays an essential role:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employers should be on notice that with these bills, retaliating against workers who stand up for their basic rights will have serious consequences. These new protections are vital to protecting all workers who are afraid to report these abuses.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lengths companies will go to in an </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/04/threatening-immigrants-will-be-harder.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">effort to keep their workers quiet</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> was on full display earlier this year during a committee hearing. Owners of the Marquez Brothers cheese facility in Hanford intimidated one worker who testified before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee in March. The company hired </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/03/boss-to-workers-if-you-go-to-sacramento.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">notorious labor-hating law firm Littler Mendelson to follow her</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and other employees who attended the hearing in Sacramento. The testifying employee, a mother of four, was later fired by Marquez.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Workers at the Marquez plant have been trying to negotiate a first contract as Teamsters for about a year, to no avail. But at least the company’s workers will be allowed to speak out, said Gerardo Aguirre, a former Marquez worker who was fired while standing up for his rights:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The workers at Marquez Brothers are united in standing up to intimidation, at work and in the state legislature. We need laws that allow all workers to speak up and protect immigrant workers from these kinds of abuses.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gov. Brown has until Oct. 13 to sign them into law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>

California Legislature Gov. Jerry Brown immigrant rights Marquez Brothers worker intimidation No ICE for Calif. employers

The Teamsters are hailing the passage of a trio of California bills this week that protect immigrant workers from abusive employers. The...

Read more »

Abusive employer Marquez Brothers gets the OK from Walmart

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlWHjokOafhYvFvGpVWttWmefNuxn3Uuk1768c5Gt5K92jJ6oquHUiv802PE3HkDMGWfBnSM5b66nDUBkFdNblFljETpft60WlVRYJ0YQhWXCPPSkg2ySwFwvlcaKLxv7_xrTEcLZtqOE/s1600/Marquez+bros+contract+vote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlWHjokOafhYvFvGpVWttWmefNuxn3Uuk1768c5Gt5K92jJ6oquHUiv802PE3HkDMGWfBnSM5b66nDUBkFdNblFljETpft60WlVRYJ0YQhWXCPPSkg2ySwFwvlcaKLxv7_xrTEcLZtqOE/s400/Marquez+bros+contract+vote.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marquez Brothers workers after voting down the contract proposal in May. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Marquez Brothers, the California cheese plant with the horrific record of mistreating workers, recently got approval by an "independent auditor" to continue as a Walmart contractor.<br /><br />No one should be surprised by this. Getting approval to be a Walmart contractor involves passing a very low bar indeed. Marquez Brothers joins <a href="http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/08/21/US-Bangladesh-Safety-Plan-Implementation-082113.aspx" rel="nofollow">Bangladeshi garment factories</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/oct/18/walmart-supply-chain-agencies-accused-wage-theft" rel="nofollow">warehouses accused of massive wage theft</a>.  And it was only when a disgusted public and suppliers put pressure on Walmart did it sever its relationship with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/business/wal-mart-suspends-seafood-supplier-over-work-conditions.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow">C.J.'s Seafoods</a>, a Louisiana seafood processor that enslaved its workers.<br /><br />Marquez Brothers is a horror story in its own right. The company's employees voted last year to join the Teamsters, but management is spending heavily on a nasty law firm to bust the union. The company made a ludicrous contract proposal in May that was voted down 119-2.<br /><br />Retaliation against workers is common, and union supporters have been fired. In March, one of the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/03/boss-to-workers-if-you-go-to-sacramento.html" rel="nofollow">Marquez Brothers' low-wage workers went to testify at a hearing</a> in the state capitalabout its intimidation of immigrant employees. The company's pricey lawyers to follow the worker to the hearing room in Sacramento and intimidate her in front of lawmakers.<br /><br />Wages are as low as minimum wage. Employees who have worked at Marquez Brothers for 10 years are making $9 an hour, while health care for a family is more than $600 a month. We are told management gave employees a penny an hour raise and told them they should be grateful.<br /><br />You can imagine what their working conditions are like. Workers who cook cheese are given gloves so cheap their hands get burned. Workers injured by slipping in the freezer aren't given light duty. If workers apply for workers comp or unemployment benefits, Marquez Brothers tries to block them. One worker in his 40s was told by his supervisor that he should quit because he's too old and no longer useful to the Marquez Brothers.<br /><br />Walmart recently sent an "independent" auditor to assess the company's labor practices. You can guess how it happened. The auditor didn't speak Spanish, so the human relations manager active in busting the union did the translation.<br /><br />Marquez Brothers got a passing grade from Walmart. We hope they're proud of it.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>

Marquez Brothers walmart Abusive employer Marquez Brothers gets the OK from Walmart

Marquez Brothers workers after voting down the contract proposal in May.  Marquez Brothers, the California cheese plant with the horrific re...

Read more »