Blue Diamond Workers United

Early on the Blue Diamond workers learned that the flawed U.S. labor law didn't do enough to protect their rights. Their employer's anti-union tricks (many illegal, all vicious) poisoned the atmosphere in the plant so badly they couldn't possibly have a fair chance to decide for themselves whether or not they wanted a union. They would need Blue Diamond to agree to ground rules for a free and fair vote.

The workers also knew the company wouldn't easily agree to fair rules. Blue Diamond would have to hear their message from every corner in its web of relationships. So the workers build support among community members and political leaders in Sacramento, where the plant is located. They traveled up and down central California, where the growers live who belong to the Blue Diamond cooperative and sit on its Board of Directors. They went all around the country and world, building solidarity with other unions and talking with Blue Diamond customers. Everywhere they asked the same thing: Please tell Blue Diamond to respect our rights to a free and fair decision!

After hearing BDG workers address a packed community forum in November 2007, Communities Organizing Support for Blue Diamond Workers (COS) asked the company to agree to five ground rules for a fair election. The group suggested that:

• the vote be held in a neutral location away from the plant, such as a school or church;
• union representatives have equal access to workers who will vote;
• both sides agree not to harass or intimidate voters;
• impartial monitors oversee the vote itself; and
• the parties should agree to community oversight of the whole election process.

Why are these rules necessary?

When workers vote on joining a union, they usually go through an election campaign overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. NLRB elections look nothing like elections for public office. Both use secret ballots, but the similarity ends there.

Imagine for a moment you live in a city completely controlled by one political party. That party decides who can keep their job and whose garbage gets picked up. That party has complete control of radio, TV and print media. That party is the employer when workers vote on joining a union.

In an election for public office, all candidates can get lists of voters whenever they ask. They use these lists to get their message out.

In a vote on joining a union, the employer has a complete list of voters from day one.

The union and the workers who are organizing get the list three weeks before the election AT BEST.

In an election for public office, media must sell advertising to all candidates on the same terms. No discrimination is allowed.

In a vote on joining a union, the employer controls the "airwaves." Supervisors can campaign against the union on work time. They can pull people into meetings, post mis-information all over the plant or send it to people's homes. Blue Diamond did all those things.

The workers who support the union can only talk to their co-workers if everyone is "off the clock"—on breaks or lunch, before and after work. And they can't send information to all their co-workers' homes because they don't have all the addresses.

In an election for public office, one side doesn't have the power to threaten voters' livelihoods if they vote the wrong way.

Employers routinely threaten and fire people during union elections. 51% of all employers fire at least one union supporter during an organizing drive. University of Oregon Professor Gordon Lafer analyzed NLRB records and found that employers illegally fired or suspended 1 worker for every 17 voters in NLRB elections in 2004.

The NLRB found Blue Diamond guilty of more than 20 labor law violations. These included illegally firing two union supporters. The union's charges over two other firings are still on appeal.

If the U.S. elections in 2002 were like NLRB elections, 7.5 million people would have been fired or suspended for supporting losing candidates.

In short, current labor law does not adequately protect workers' right to a free and fair vote. Click here to read more about why workers need fair rules when they vote on joining a union.

International solidarity

California almond growers send some 70 percent of their product overseas. Spain, Japan, India, France, Korea and the United Kingdom rank among Blue Diamond's top 15 international customers. Three union networks have helped take word of the Blue Diamond workers' organizing to big importers and distributors in those countries. Read more. . .

Community and political solidarity

Public officials, people of faith, union members around the States. . .The Blue Diamond workers have enlisted a wide range of supporters since their organizing began. Read more . . .