UFW Goons Crash Farmworker Freedom Rally

A group of Fresno-based Gerawan farmworkers were joined by CA state officials, including Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno), at their freedom rally outside the State House in Sacramento on January 22, 2015.

The farmworkers were protesting their disenfranchisement by California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), which is refusing to count their votes from a United Farm Workers (UFW) decertification election held in November 2013.

UFW spokesman Mark Grossman attempted to heckle the farmworkers during their protest, but decertification leader and Gerawan Farming veteran, Silvia Lopez, quickly shut him down:

“I can handle how I get paid.  I can have medical insurance without going through the union…I know about retirement.  I know about 401k.  I know about my rights.  I don’t need to be represented by the union to explain to me my rights and then charge me…we don’t want to be represented by the UFW.  If we need something we can gather and go to ask for it.”

A short video feasturing clips of this confrontation can be found on the CWF youtube account. The rally was also covered by Valley Public Radio and Sacramento’s KCRA Channel 3 news.

CWF will be releasing more video on this confrontation soon. ​Stay tuned!