NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

Best Places to Work 2008 Awards Reception

September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

E-Mail Express

Name:

Company:

E-mail:

Phone:

CK Mondavi inks contract for UFW, subcontractor workers

ST. HELENA, April 4, 2008 – The United Farm Workers of America union today said it has inked a new contract with CK Mondavi Family Vineyards to bring back 24 workers fired in July 2006 after the previous contract expired.

The new contract gives the workers back pay, an 18 percent wage increase and restores to the workers the same seniority and job classifications they held before.

Employees of vineyard subcontractors also will get the same pay scale and dispute-resolution mechanisms as union workers as part of the new deal.

"This just proves that when farm workers stand up to demand their rights, they will be heard," UFW Regional Director Casimiro Alvarez said in a statement.

The winery faced charges from the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, alleging actions in bad faith. The previous contract expired at the end of 2005, and the winery brought in a vineyard management company to tend the vineyards seven months later.

Winery officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment.

Book of Lists Online