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On November 1, the weather was overcast and drizzling. About 30 people gathered in northern Santa Rosa to share the news that eight agricultural workers will receive nearly $18,000 in lost wages from a Sonoma County-based winery giant to resolve the issue. complaint from a government agency.

Workers, attorneys and government agency employees held a news conference on the sidewalk in front of Foley Family Farms LLC’s corporate offices on Concourse Boulevard in Santa Rosa, where they shared that the company agreed to pay $17,945 in lost wages as part of the Oct. 21 settlement. compromise agreement.

Eight workers will share the layout. Representatives from Foley Family Farm were not in attendance.

This comes after the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the state agency that protects farm rights, filed a formal complaint against billionaire Bill Foley’s company on July 30 following a 10-month investigation.

A representative for Foley Family Farms did not respond to the Press Democrat’s two requests for comment.

The workers said they were fired in August 2023 after demanding a $1-per-hour raise, using paid sick leave, and were threatened with termination for using paid sick leave, the ALRB reported.

“I’m not whole inside. I don’t feel well. “I’m displeased,” said Santiago Ferreira, one of the workers involved in the complaint. “Why? Because of the injustice of (companies) not valuing workers.”

He said he chose to work with Dos Viñas because he heard that this company paid better wages than the company he had previously worked for. During the investigation, he said he became depressed.

He and other workers in the settlement continue to work “in the fields” today (a frequent reference to this work), although they say that this year’s season is much lighter than in past seasons and that they will work with “whatever falls” on their laps. .

At one point during the news conference, participants shouted “Si se puede” (“Yes, we can”) as cars drove by, a phrase synonymous with the farmworker movement led by the United Farm Workers in the 1970s.

Dennis Quintanilla and Santos Ismael Cantarero, the two workers who will receive settlement funds, said they felt “good” about the result.

According to the complaint, workers hired in May 2023 to prune, harvest and maintain vineyards requested a raise from $18 to $19 per hour that same month. They received a $1-a-month increase starting in July and decided to collectively begin using state-mandated sick leave in August.

Calistoga-based Dos Viñas Vineyard Management, LLC fired its labor supervisor on August 23, 2023, after workers brought their concerns to company owner Mariano Navarro. Two days later, the vineyard management company laid off the crew of eight workers, according to the complaint.

According to the ALRB complaint filed in late July, Navarro “told (the fired workers) that they were permanently laid off because they had no foreman and Foley demanded the crew be released.”

ALRB investigation begins That’s after North Bay Jobs with Justice, a local coalition of groups advocating for workers, filed the first labor charge with the ALRB on behalf of those workers in September 2023.

“We are fighting not only the illegality of this, but also the immorality that occurs when companies retaliate by asking workers “what is fair, what is simple, what is earned, and what is honorable,” said director Davin Cardenas. The story of organizing with North Bay Jobs with Justice during the Nov. 1 meeting.

The initial application from North Bay Jobs with Justice was named Dos Viñas, but was amended to include Foley Family Farms, which contracts with the vineyard management company.

The agreement came nine days after a pretrial conference for the case was scheduled for Oct. 15.

As part of the terms of the agreement, Foley agreed to respect the rights of employees, including those hired by contractors, and “not to interfere with the rights” of organizing for mutual aid and protection as set forth in the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. 1975.

“Foley also agreed that ALRB Representatives will provide training to auditors about their responsibilities through ALRA,” according to the ALRB news release.

In addition, ALRB Representatives will train supervisors on their responsibilities under ALRA, and representatives will read a notice of their rights to all agricultural workers at each of Foley’s work sites.

ALRB representatives will mail the notice to former and current employees and post the notice at Foley vineyards for 90 days, the news release said.

Last summer, 21 H-2A temporary farm workers received $328,000 in compensation. largest in local historyAfter North Bay Jobs and Justice filed a criminal complaint with the ALRB on behalf of workers in 2022.

Reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or [email protected]. @sawhney_media on X (Twitter).