UFW files complaint against T&A
UFW files complaint against T&A
The United Farm Workers union filed a complaint March 13 with the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of 16 employees laid off by Tanimura & Antle.
The complaint alleges that Spreckels, CA-based T&A did not follow the rules when hiring temporary guest workers under the federal H-2A program. According to Armando Elenes, UFW's external organizing director, the laid- off workers -- all from the Tres Picos area near Huron, CA -- claim that at the same time T&A laid them off, the company was hiring workers under the H-2A program.
Mr. Elenes said that the union is asking the Labor Department to investigate T&A's hiring practices and help compensate the employees for loss of work. Mr. Elenes said that under federal guidelines, employers could hire guest workers only when there are not enough U.S. workers who are willing and able to do the work.
Mr. Elenes contends that T&A did not make an effort to reach out to the workers it laid off, despite telling them they would be called back. The 16 workers listed in the complaint "normally work year round" for T&A, Mr. Elenes said.
However, T&A refutes UFW's claims across the board. Carmen Ponce, vice president of human resources and in-house counsel for T&A, said that the firm reached out to the H-2A program following two straight years of difficulties in recruiting an adequate-sized workforce for T&A's fields in the Yuma, AZ, area, which has been an industrywide challenge.
Ms. Ponce provided a statement to The Produce News that reads in part: "We [Tanimura & Antle] are saddened by the disservice being done by an outside agency in misleading the public and a couple of our shop and tractor employees about our H-2A program, which is completely inapplicable to their job classification in Tres Picos, CA.
"Tres Picos is 483 miles away (seven hours, 32 minutes) from our Yuma office in another state where certification was sought.
"Our H-2A program was certified for heavy labor harvesters in certain commodities in the Yuma harvesting area only between November 12, 2007, through March 31, 2008. This certification had no impact on the availability of jobs in our Tres Picos operations and in no way affected the employees who were laid off in our farming operations in late December.
"Contrary to the allegations made, the company did notify these workers and all other seasonal field employees before it filed its H-2A application of its intent to do so to recruit them and their adult family members to work with us in our fall-winter H-2A program to fill our crews in Yuma.
"No foreign worker has taken the job of a willing, domestic worker. In fact, all domestic applicants were interviewed and employed accordingly. "No qualified domestic applicant was turned away. We more than complied with law regarding our H-2A program."
T&A's statement details the company's recent efforts toward the workers claiming to have been wronged and refutes the claims against it. "We stand prepared to speak the truth and to defend ourselves against such political jockeying that lacks foundation."
The complaint alleges that Spreckels, CA-based T&A did not follow the rules when hiring temporary guest workers under the federal H-2A program. According to Armando Elenes, UFW's external organizing director, the laid- off workers -- all from the Tres Picos area near Huron, CA -- claim that at the same time T&A laid them off, the company was hiring workers under the H-2A program.
Mr. Elenes said that the union is asking the Labor Department to investigate T&A's hiring practices and help compensate the employees for loss of work. Mr. Elenes said that under federal guidelines, employers could hire guest workers only when there are not enough U.S. workers who are willing and able to do the work.
Mr. Elenes contends that T&A did not make an effort to reach out to the workers it laid off, despite telling them they would be called back. The 16 workers listed in the complaint "normally work year round" for T&A, Mr. Elenes said.
However, T&A refutes UFW's claims across the board. Carmen Ponce, vice president of human resources and in-house counsel for T&A, said that the firm reached out to the H-2A program following two straight years of difficulties in recruiting an adequate-sized workforce for T&A's fields in the Yuma, AZ, area, which has been an industrywide challenge.
Ms. Ponce provided a statement to The Produce News that reads in part: "We [Tanimura & Antle] are saddened by the disservice being done by an outside agency in misleading the public and a couple of our shop and tractor employees about our H-2A program, which is completely inapplicable to their job classification in Tres Picos, CA.
"Tres Picos is 483 miles away (seven hours, 32 minutes) from our Yuma office in another state where certification was sought.
"Our H-2A program was certified for heavy labor harvesters in certain commodities in the Yuma harvesting area only between November 12, 2007, through March 31, 2008. This certification had no impact on the availability of jobs in our Tres Picos operations and in no way affected the employees who were laid off in our farming operations in late December.
"Contrary to the allegations made, the company did notify these workers and all other seasonal field employees before it filed its H-2A application of its intent to do so to recruit them and their adult family members to work with us in our fall-winter H-2A program to fill our crews in Yuma.
"No foreign worker has taken the job of a willing, domestic worker. In fact, all domestic applicants were interviewed and employed accordingly. "No qualified domestic applicant was turned away. We more than complied with law regarding our H-2A program."
T&A's statement details the company's recent efforts toward the workers claiming to have been wronged and refutes the claims against it. "We stand prepared to speak the truth and to defend ourselves against such political jockeying that lacks foundation."
