Foster Farms had unfair labor practices, judge rules

Approximately 400 Porterville-based Foster Farms employees were unfairly dissuaded from unionizing by plant management, according to a judge with the National Labor Relations Board.

The ruling, issued by Administrative Law Judge Gerald Wacknov, states that the poultry company violated federal labor law by conducting a “vigorous anti-union campaign” during which it purposefully mislead employees with regards to their benefits.

An increase in benefits announced on January 2009, spurred by the discovery that Porterville workers were not receiving appropriate levels of sick leave and vacation time, was improperly pushed, the report states, during the time leading up to a union certification election in order to reduce support for the union campaign.

Foster Farms spokespeople were not available for comment as of press time.

According to Wacknov’s report, management informed workers about the benefits change — mandated by company-wide policy for non-union plants — without revealing the true reason behind the alteration.

A leaflet, distributed by Plant Manager Henry Fuse on Jan. 6, 2009, warned employees against signing union authorization cards, in the case that then-pending federal legislation made this a legal way of voting for union representation at the plant.

In the same month, employees were told they would have better wages and benefits by remaining non-union during a presentation.

“You should not have to pay union due to work at the Porterville Plant,” the report states workers were told.

February of the same year saw the announcement of the change in benefits, attributed to an “ongoing effort to continuously review and improve non-union benefit programs.”

A memorandum, addressed to all Porterville hourly employees, called the increase in time off a “real change” representing a “significant increase of hundred, if not thousands of hours of paid time off over the course of your career with Foster Farms.”

Up until April 1, when the new benefits went into effect, three additional leaflets were distributed, each asking workers to think twice before supporting the union campaign.

The final one, passed around March 31, compared wages at a similar site in Belgravia where employees had unionized unfavorably against the newly upped benefits at the Porterville plant.

“I believe the answer is clear... Stay non-union!” the pamphlet insists.

Wacknov concludes that the lower than mandated wages would have not been increased had a union campaign not been underway, citing the timing of the announcement, five-year delay in identifying the “alleged mistake” and the failure of Foster Farms to produce the employee who “allegedly discovered the alleged mistake” as a witness.

As a result of the March 9 ruling, Wacknov ordered Foster Farms to cease such labor practices, and post a document at the plants informing employees that these actions would not occur again.

--Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.