On June 20, over 150 people gathered outside Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg to hold an “informational picket” – carrying signs, dancing, yelling chants, and bringing awareness to how there is no union contract at the vineyard.
The picket coincided with the winery’s “Garden Summer Party” event.
Rafael Malfavon is a worker at Rodney Strong Vineyards.
“We’re just trying to be recognized by the company that we want to organize as workers, we want to be unionized, and we want them to acknowledge us,” said Malfavon in an interview with North Bay Vanguard.
“All we want is a fair process, that’s all we’re looking for.”
According to documents reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, on May 29, 50 out of 68 workers requested a card check neutrality agreement – one of the first steps that would allow workers at the vineyard to form a union without fear of intimidation or retaliation.
One week later, management denied their request.
“Card check neutrality agreements restrict our organization’s right to make its views known, dilute transparency and rules protecting employees’ individual choices and — most important — deprive each employee of the right to make a choice free from pressure or influence by taking away the right to a secret ballot election,” said Communications Director Christopher O’Gorman of Rodney Strong Estates in an email.
Because the company declined a card check agreement, workers must seek union representation through the National Labor Relations Board’s secret-ballot election process. Workers must first file a petition supported by at least 30% of employees in the proposed bargaining unit. The NLRB then reviews the petition and, if legal requirements are met, schedules a secret-ballot election.
Workers are organizing alongside Teamsters Local 665 and North Bay Jobs with Justice, a grassroots labor coalition of community organizations in Sonoma, Napa, and Marin Counties.
Mike Yates is the president of Teamsters Local 665, a labor union with over 5,000 members across Northern California. He first joined the Teamsters Union in 1986.
“Card neutrality is basically foregoing an election and recognizing the group,” said Yates in an interview with North Bay Vanguard.
“They gave them a petition with enough signatures that shows the clear majority of the workers want to be represented, and Rodney Strong, in a very nice way, said no thank you. So we joined up as a little community support, as you can see.”
The vineyard, according to the SF Chronicle, has “retained Jesse Rojas, CEO of the Redd Group, a labor relations consulting organization, according to workers who attended a meeting with him June 10. Rojas is an anti-United Farm Workers activist who has supported union decertification campaigns in California, including at Gerawan Farming and Foster Poultry Farms.”
The Sonoma County Branch of the Democratic Socialists of America also showed up in Solidarity at Saturday’s picket line.
Joel Berger is a co-chair of Sonoma County Democratic Socialists of America, also known as “DSA.”
“The biggest thing the wine industry does is say where’s the story behind the wine, and a lot of it is about how the greater growth and process it’s a very interesting story, but the one thing that’s always left out are the workers – and that’s really, really shameful,” said Joel Berger.
“I believe that every single person is entitled to be represented by a union, or even better yet, a worker co-op, and that’s why I’m out here today to support the workers at Rodney Strong to make sure that happens to them,” he said.
Estel Quintana, another co-chair of Sonoma County DSA, was also present at the picket line.
“Some of the business publications may tell you that it is the winery owners who create everything and develop everything, when reality is it takes the hands of many sorts of warehouse workers, production workers, people who are the lifeblood of this winery industry, who frankly have not been given any real respect or dignity in decades,” said Quintana.
