Blue Diamond Workers United

At a packed community forum Nov. 18, eight Sacramento civic leaders promised to contact the management of Blue Diamond Growers in support of a fair and timely union election at the company's main processing plant.

"Something very exciting happened today," said Rev. Dr. David Thompson of Westminster Presbyterian Church, where the forum took place. "As a community, we're getting more and more serious about seeing a fair resolution to the labor situation at Blue Diamond."

Dr. Thompson sat on the panel at the forum, along with State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento City Council member Steve Cohn, Joan B. Lee of the Gray Panthers, Chris Jones of ACORN, Gary Passmore from the Congress of California Seniors, Professor Paul Burke from Sacramento State University and Guambry Santillan from Sacramento City College MEChA.

Six Blue Diamond Organizing Committee members told the panel that the company's anti-union campaign cast a lasting pall of fear over the plant.

"They wrote me up for singing 'mighty, mighty union,'" Alma Orozco said. "The NLRB said that was wrong, but they're still harassing me. I spend more time in the supervisors' office than on the sorting belt."

Ben Monarque reminded the panel that Blue Diamond never admitted wrongdoing, even after the NLRB found the company guilty of 20 violations of labor law.

"Blue Diamond threatened to close the plant, threatened we would lose our pensions and fired two of my co-workers," Monarque said. "People are still afraid to ask about the union or talk to union supporters."

Though employers typically trumpet the democratic value of secret ballot elections, such pre-election misconduct does much to prejudice the vote, according to University of Oregon political science professor Gordon Lafer, who also spoke at the Nov. 18 event.

"This week people from the U.S. State Department will be in Pakistan telling the leader of that country that you can't run an election under martial law," Lafer said. "You can't run an election where the opposition can't hold rallies, where you shut down the free press. But that same absence of free speech and atmosphere of terror is allowed in the workplace under NLRB rules," Lafer said.

Recognizing the impact of Blue Diamond's ongoing anti-union campaign, the panel decided to ask the company to sign on to fair ground rules for a union election.

"We believe the labor laws in this country need a thorough overhaul," Sen Steinberg said. "But for here and now, we recommend that an election be held with additional safeguards for fairness." The panel 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.

The panel members agreed to send a letter to Blue Diamond with these recommendations, and report back to the community on the company's response.

The Nov. 18 forum was the first public event sponsored by Communities Organizing Support for Blue Diamond Workers (COS), which has been meeting since August. The 200 people at the event came from the Blue Diamond workforce and nearly two dozen unions and community groups. These included the Sacramento Central Labor Council, Sacramento County Democratic Central Committee, Sacramento Progressive Alliance, the Alliance of Retired Americans, UNITE-HERE Local 49, Communications Workers of America Local 9421, ILWU Locals 6, 10, and 17 and the ILWU's marine division, the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific.

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