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Workers OK Contract: Chronicle Report
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Progressive Portal
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Feb 21, 2002 10:21 PST
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This article may be read in full at:
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/20/BU144872.DTL>
If the above link doesn't display properly, go to http://www.sfgate.com
and search for Krug in the search box at top left, then click the title,
"Winery workers OK contract."
WINERY WORKERS OK CONTRACT
Carolyn Said
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
csa-@sfchronicle.com
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
After the longest labor lockout in California history -- which spilled
over into a boycott of two well-known wine brands -- employees at
Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena this weekend ratified a new union
contract that will return them to work next Thursday.
About 40 cellar workers at Charles Krug, the oldest winery in the Napa
Valley, had been locked out since early July after turning down a
contract that cut pay for some jobs and eliminated some job
classifications.
They ended up signing a contract similar to that offered last year. In
fact, according to Tom Fossey, chief financial officer for Charles Krug,
the final contract actually was adjusted downward from that originally
proposed because the tourism slump since Sept. 11 has hurt sales.
The workers' union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, had
instigated a boycott of Charles Krug and C.K. Mondavi wines, which
account for about 1 million cases a year in sales. Krug workers, many of
whom had decades on the job, picketed daily at the winery and
supermarkets, urging the boycott. But Fossey said the action "had
minimal impact" on sales.
The winery hired temporary workers during the lockout, which started
right before the grape harvest and the critical crushing season.
While wages for some jobs were reduced, Fossey said the contract gave
workers a chance to take on higher-paid jobs with more responsibility.
Wages range from about $12 an hour to about $18 an hour. He said charges
that the winery wanted to break the union were "typical union posturing"
that were dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board.
Employees said they were pleased to be returning to work but were
disappointed with the terms they'd agreed to.
"It's a bad contract," said Alfred Martin, who has 33 years tenure at
Charles Krug as a production worker, maintaining winery equipment.
"People were desperate to go back to work. We've been out over seven
months."
The bitter dispute sparked community support with fund-raisers and
rallies in the Napa Valley and Bay Area. Berkeley and San Francisco
introduced resolutions in support of the workers and the boycott.
Some observers saw the dispute as having broader ramifications for the
future of organized labor in the wine industry.
Krug "is the last unionized production facility in the Napa Valley,"
said Lauren Coodley, a professor of history at Napa Valley College.
"These jobs are more permanent and safer and better paid. For the second
generation of immigrants, the children of vineyard workers, this is an
opportunity to learn a trade as opposed to just planting vines.
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