Large California Stone Fruit Grower Sues UFW

By David Eddy|February 26, 2013

One of the biggest stone fruit and table grape growers in the nation, Gerawan Farming of Reedley, CA, says it is fed up with the United Farm Workers’ (UFW) tactics. The company recently filed a libel suit against the UFW, claiming the union defamed its reputation and threatened to harm the company’s relationship with its employees. At peak harvest, the number of employees — including those who work for labor contractors — approaches 12,000.

Because the suit is pending, Dan Gerawan deferred to his attorney, David Schwarz of the law firm Irell & Manella for comment. Schwarz said that Gerawan alleges that UFW representatives made statements that were quoted in a story that appeared in The Business Journal, a Fresno weekly newspaper, that tarnished the company’s image. “The complaint alleges that the statements made by the UFW were false and we contend they were defamatory and would injure the company,” said Schwarz by telephone from his Los Angeles office, “especially in an industry where the rights of farmworkers are of great concern to the general public.”

The suit marks the latest chapter in a bizarre story that has been dormant for about 20 years — ever since the union won the right to begin contract negotiations with Gerawan employees. After negotiations opened all those years ago, they were abruptly stopped — but by the UFW — says another Gerawan attorney, Ron Barsamian. Very, very few of the company’s employees today voted in that election, he noted. Indeed, some were not even yet born.

UFW officials were quoted in the news story in question that Gerawan has been stalling for many years instead of negotiating. Gerawan Farming, saying it was the union that ceased negotiating, asked for a retraction and the UFW did request a correction, but the paper stuck by its story. The UFW did not respond to calls for comment from Western Fruit Grower.