It was overcast and rainy on Nov. 1 as about 30 people gathered in north Santa Rosa to announce that eight farm workers will receive nearly $18,000 in lost wages from a wine giant based in Sonoma County to resolve the problem. state agency complaint.

Workers, advocates and state agency employees held a press conference on the sidewalk outside the offices of Foley Family Farms LLC on Concourse Boulevard in Santa Rosa, to announce that the company had agreed to pay $17,945 of lost wages as part of an October 21 agreement. settlement agreement.

The eight workers will share the payment. Representatives from Foley Family Farm were not present.

The move comes after the state agency responsible for protecting agricultural rights, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, filed a formal complaint against billionaire Bill Foley’s company on July 30, following an investigation of 10 months.

Foley Family Farms’ representation did not respond to two Press Democrat requests for comment.

The workers said they were laid off in August 2023 after asking for a $1-an-hour raise, using paid sick leave and said they were threatened with termination for using paid sick leave, according to a statement from ALRB press.

“Inside, I am not whole. I don’t feel well. I am unhappy,” said Santiago Ferreira, one of the workers involved in the complaint. “Why? Because of the injustice that means (companies) don’t value the worker.”

He said he chose to work with Dos Viñas because he heard she was paid better than the company he previously worked with. During the investigation, he fell into a depression, he said.

Today, he continues to work “in the field,” as this work is often called, although he and other workers involved in the colony said this year’s season was much lighter than previous seasons and that they would work with “whatever comes to hand” in their laps. .

At one point during the press conference, participants shouted “Si se puede” (“Yes, we can.”), a phrase synonymous with the 1970s farm worker movement led by the United Farm Workers, as cars were passing.

Dennis Quintanilla and Santos Ismael Cantarero, two workers who will receive settlement funds, said they were “pleased” with the finding.

The workers, hired in May 2023 to prune, harvest and maintain the vineyard, requested the increase — from $18 an hour to $19 an hour — that same month, according to the complaint. They received a $1 per month raise starting in July, and in August they collectively decided to start using their state-mandated sick leave.

Dos Viñas Vineyard Management, LLC, based in Calistoga, fired the workers’ supervisor on August 23, 2023, after reporting the workers’ concerns to owner Mariano Navarro. Two days later, the vineyard management company fired the team of eight workers, according to the complaint.

Navarro “told (the laid-off workers) that they were permanently laid off because they did not have a foreman and because Foley had requested that the crew be laid off,” according to the ALRB complaint filed in late July.

THE ALRB investigation begins after North Bay Jobs with Justice, a local coalition of groups that advocate for workers, first filed a complaint with the ALRB in September 2023 on behalf of those workers.

“We are fighting not only against the illegality of this, but also against the immorality that arises” when companies retaliate against workers “by demanding what is right and what is simple, what is earned and what is worthy ” said Davin Cardenas, director of organizing with North Bay Jobs with Justice, at the November 1 rally.

North Bay Jobs’ initial filing with Justice was called Dos Viñas, but it was amended to include Foley Family Farms, which hired the vineyard’s management company.

The settlement came nine days after a pre-hearing meeting scheduled for Oct. 15 in the case.

As part of the terms of the settlement, Foley agreed to respect the rights of employees, including those hired by contractors, and “not to interfere with their rights” to organize for their mutual aid and protection, as provides for the Ontario Agricultural Labor Relations Act. 1975.

“Foley also agreed that ALRB officers would provide training to supervisors on their responsibilities” through the ALRA, according to the ALRB press release.

Additionally, ALRB agents will train supervisors on their responsibilities under the ALRA, and agents will read a notice to all agricultural workers regarding their rights at each of Foley’s work sites.

ALRB agents will send the notice to former and current employees and post it at Foley Vineyards for 90 days, the press release states.

Last summer, 21 temporary H-2A agricultural workers received a $328,000 settlement, the greatest in local historyafter North Bay Jobs with Justice filed charges with the ALRB in 2022 on behalf of workers.

You can reach editor Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.