Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft a resolution in support of the farm workers at Gerawan Farming, and right to unionize with the United Farm Workers.
Okay. Thank you. Now we're moving on to item 24. So we're going to 24, which is the other. The other item that I know we have a group here for. So, Madam Clerk. Item 24 Communication from Council member Yarrawonga Vice Mayor Lowenthal. Council Member Richardson. Recommendation to request the city attorney to draft a resolution in support of the farm workers at Goodwin Farming and and right to unionize with the United Farm Workers. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to turn this over to Councilmember. You're Ranga. Are you the main author? Right. Thank you, Mayor. But wait a minute. The desk is that of the United Mine Workers. Separate before. Key to that is a gracious pursuit. But he didn't see a prosthetic, Ethan today. Yeah. Back to emotional radio. And we work about electrocardiograms prosthetic advances in the presentation. Basically, what I said is I want to thank them for their time being here. They waited a long time and thanked them for their patience and that I am now going to read my statement. I am glad to sponsor the settlement support of the United Farm Workers in their long struggle to unionize the workers at Garrison Farming . The United Farm Workers have been working since 1990 to solidify the vote held by the workers at one farming to join the union. Gary one farming has continually violated labor laws over these past many years. Laws designed to protect workers. And it is disturbing that the workers there have been unable to successfully implement their rights to unionize. It is only fitting and appropriate that we take this issue up today as we near Cesar Chavez birthday. To note that we stand with him in his last major organizing campaign. We, the city of Long Beach, along with our colleagues in other cities who have joined the call for writing a great wrong, have a moral responsibility to support social issues that negatively affect workers rights to choose a union or not. I therefore respectfully ask my colleagues to join me today in voting for this resolution to send a message to the group on farming that workers have a right to unionize and be represented and have a pathway to the middle class. Thank you. And I move that we accept this motion. Next up is councilwoman I'm sorry, the second year of the motion and Vice Mayor Lowenthal. Then Councilwoman Pryce. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to thank Councilmember Your Honor for raising the topic. It might not be an issue that's occurring inside the borders of Long Beach, but our residents certainly purchase from the farm that Councilmember Durango had mentioned marijuana in local supermarkets. And I firmly believe that workers should have the right to safe and healthy work conditions in our fields, in our hotels and our restaurants anywhere in California and the United States, for that matter. And I know certainly with all that is happening and the interest that we're seeing regarding the drought in California, farm workers are impacted in a way that I think a lot of folks who just go to the grocery store and pick up their items have no idea. It's just as easy as when you turn on the tap. If the water's flowing, you have no idea of the challenges. But you do have an idea. And I saw this in our farmer's market on Saturday, which we opened. Half the farmers we expected, which we traditionally would see at any other time, weren't able to be there because they are suffering and struggling. So in addition to working conditions, you have natural conditions that inhibit your ability to work. And I want to assure you that this city and this council stands with you and recognizes the contributions you provide and doesn't simply look at the bounty on our tables to decide if all of us have a bountiful life. So I want to thank you for your perseverance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. No problem. First of all, I want to thank all the workers and members who are here tonight. You know, I'm a part of a union, too. So I think that the desire to be part of a union and to work within a union is a very reasonable, prudent request. And and I, I think I you know, I joined Vice Mayor Lowenthal in her comments that we want nothing but safe, good working condition for our for all of our workers, all of the workers who who work in our state, in our own right, in our nation. My my question would be this. And I did a little bit of research on this last night, and perhaps Councilmember Durango, who who brought this forward, can answer a couple of questions for me, because I'm work. I'm worried about timing. And I will tell you why I'm worried about timing. So I did some research on the Internet last night, and I understand that there is actual active litigation going on. Well, first of all, who drafted this draft ordinance that we have? Was it our city attorney? Okay. Our city attorney. No, we did not prepare the. There's a proposed resolution language. The resolution that was provided by the Council of. Okay. So this resolution that we'd be adopting would not it was not prepared by our city attorney's office. That's correct. It's currently as a proposed resolution and in types of support of things like this. If it's the desire of the council to use this as our template, we'd be certainly happy to do that. If you were to change it tonight, we would modify it to whatever the council would. Like to see back that comes back. But if I could interject, this resolution was a resolution that was passed by the city of Los Angeles. Okay. And then someone just forwarded it to us to pass here. Okay. And do you know when that was passed by the city of L.A.? Because I think the appellate court has taken the case up. In the news today. Does anyone know that? That Archer. Mr. City attorney. Nope. Okay. I don't know. I don't know that we know that answer yet. Okay. Because my my concern is that I don't know how up to date the resolution is, because my understanding is that the appellate court is this is active litigation right now. And the the contract that's referred to throughout the resolution is the subject of the litigation that's going to be before the appellate court in April. And I believe that they will have a decision within 90 days of the hearing in April. So my recommendation would be to continue this until there is an opinion from the appellate court regarding some of the terms that are referenced in this resolution. And so I would request that we move this until 90 days after April, so that because there's active litigation going on. So some of the terms that we've even used here and some of the statements that are in here regarding illegal actions and things like that are actually under litigation right now by the California Appellate Court. So I don't want to pass a resolution that has conclusions in it that are currently being litigated and before the appellate court for oral argument. So I think legally this resolution and I don't know who drafted it before the L.A. City Council, but I think legally this resolution may not be accurate as it currently stands today. I understand the intent behind it. It may perhaps we can ask our own city attorneys to draft a resolution that's more in line with what the current legal status of this case is. Or we can wait until we have some resolution from the appellate court so that we can, when we're referring to things like, you know, what I don't want to do is pass a resolution that's making allegations that the appellate court comes back in in May and June and says, we're not founded. I think that would make us look like we didn't do our due diligence as a body. I'm telling you that I've researched this on the Internet, and this is going to be taken up by the California Court of Appeal in April. So I think it's premature for us to pass a resolution that wasn't drafted by our city attorney that maybe refers to terms that are going to be overruled or found to to be legally inaccurate. So perhaps we can do this in July. I don't know what 90 days from April would be. But maybe I'll make a friendly for that. There's a friendly moment by Councilman Price. I think members, although, had something to say before comment. If I may, Councilmember Your Honor, I don't disagree with Council Member Councilwoman Price. I think what I would prefer and hopefully you might agree, is to allow our city attorney to craft the resolution in a manner that perhaps excludes the language that is under challenge or under review, or actually it's under challenge and still convey the message that we wish to convey to these workers. I think there's a way to do that that Mr. Parkin would be able to do, and then we can proceed tonight. So I think I think the issue and perhaps this is in the form of I think this is perhaps in the form of a friendly to council, to customary ranga. It's my understanding, Mr. City Attorney, that the Council can direct you tonight to bring because you have you would have to bring back some type of resolution for the council to approve. That's correct. And if I understand the vice mayor correctly, we would prepare a resolution for the next council meeting that supports the farm workers and their right to unionize there and the ability of the United Farm Workers to unionize. But we would probably remove some of the language that's in the proposed resolution that makes certain allegations that are currently being litigated. I think that's what both council members are and what the councilmember and the vice mayor were asking. So I would I would be open to that. Okay. So is that a yes? Yes. Okay. So there's a new motion on the floor, which is to direct the city attorney to draft the resolution in support of the of the UFW. But it present language. It'll come back at the next meeting that perhaps would would remove some of the of the language that's being litigated currently . So that's a motion on the floor. I'm going to go through the rest of the speakers. Councilmember Mongo I really appreciate the openness to the friendly because one of the things that's really important to me is from my research, I hear that. Potentially and I don't know specifically because of the potential litigation or the pending litigation regarding whether or not there was encouraging and gathering of signatures. But if employees stood together and asked for a vote, I want to know what the answer to their vote was. I want to know what the employees want. I want to stand with employees because what I what I feel is that first and foremost, I want to be supportive of workers and jobs and what each and every one of you voted that you want. And so that's what's important to me. So I appreciate the acceptance of the friendly amendment. Thank you, Councilman Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank Councilmember U ranga for for allowing me to sign on to this item. I don't think there's very much that I need to say, except for I believe that this resolution, really the language that comes out, doesn't really have an impact on the litigation, but it has real impact on the hearts and minds and spirits of those who are at the bargaining table. So I want to say, you know, keep up the fight. We can do it. Si, se puede. And I will. And I was, you know, told by a C supporter. So I will. I will. That's what I'm talking about. So in out the way I was raised, you always take care of those who make your food. And it's that simple, right? And I don't want to make upset the folks, the work force that that keeps us fed. And I enjoy grapes. So we want to make sure we keep these people happy. But I digress. Thank you so much for allowing me to sign on to this item. Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzales. Thank you so much. Gracias for this. Not. But I must confess that. As we're, you know, standing with you and I thank you so much for being here. I know how hard you work. My dad's a Teamster, a union member, so I know personally how it is. I know some of you have, you know, heard that. But thank you just for for all that you do and for being here. And we we certainly appreciate everything you do. Don't remember your rank. All right, Tom from Boston. Yes, thank you. And I'll be very short and brief. I just want to appreciate you all for coming here this evening. I want to thank councilmember you for bringing this item forward. All labor has dignity in the work that other United Farm workers do in the Central Valley. They work under extreme conditions of the outdoor conditions and to to have the right and to come together to unionize. That is a right as a as a as an American workforce as a workforce in the United States. It's it's part and protected under united under the the migration under law. And so not under the National Labor Relations Act. And so we're here to I think the spirit of this resolution is sound and to to to the point that we need to to correct that. I am certainly supportive of that. But the fact that it's really, really gratifying to see our city employees I am UFC W standing together today on this important issue and you have my support. Thank you. And Councilmember Urunga. Thank you, Mayor. I want to clarify that the reason I accepted the amendment is because what's important to me is that we acknowledge the hard work that these workers are doing for the poor, like one farming, and that their conditions are horrible, deplorable. They've earned the right to unionize and they're not being allowed to to exercise that right. So as long as this resolution recognizes that. I'm all the way with it. There may be some language in there that is controversial that might be in litigation, and that's fine. The city attorney will wash that out. But I think it's important that we acknowledge the hard work that these workers do for us, for our communities and for our country in terms of keeping us with food on the table and doing it because it's their labor that's their choice, the work that they want to do. And I and I applaud them for being here with it. Subway. Subway. And as you. Big accounts. Remember, with that, I think it's pretty clear. I think the council's looking at going to be giving direction to the city attorney to come back. We will have public comment, but I think he probably know where the direction is going. But if there's any public comment and you want to add anything to this, please come forward. Yes. My name is Irv Hersh, and I'm I'm first vice president of the United Farm Workers. I just want to clarify a couple facts. One of what's being challenged at the appellate court is the constitutionality. Of the mandatory mediation law that was challenged by this law was passed in 2002. It was challenged by other growers. We waited for years, and we've used this law to unionize thousands of farm workers. So the challenge is is disreputable. Basically, and it will be appealed again. To the Supreme Court forever. We've waited several years for this. The law is constitutional. We've used that over and over again, just as the legislature has the right for public employees to have a mandatory mediation process. What makes this so farcical was that when we could not agree with going and invoke the mediation process, they picked the mediator and. We said, That's a fair person. We'll will abide by it. When when the mediator wrote the agreement. We accepted it, though it didn't have any medical plan for the 5000 workers, many of whom are documented. But we felt at least that's a start to get the contract process done. So we went through the procedure in terms of. Councilman Mango, in terms. Of the vote that they're claiming they want. The workers already voted. 20. Years ago. For the. Contract on the labor law. It's like being married until you're divorced. The reason why they don't have a vote is because the company used. Illegal practices to. Deny workers the right to a free election. I have five complaints litigated by the state of California. Not what I saying. It's what the state is prosecuting this law. So though. I accept the concept of something being under litigation, what I reject is the fact that this company is violated. Law repeatedly. When we had the union election. 24 years ago, when. She said Chavez was still alive. Their response was to bulldoze five labor camps and fire a thousand workers. So we were left with no majority. Now being blamed after being shot because we were bleeding on their carpet. So here we have a company. Who's violated every law. The impact of this on these workers is very simple. If we had a contract presently there, a third of the workers worked for farm labor contractors. They're still getting $9 an hour. The company raised the wages on the pressure for the direct workers for two thirds of the workers to $11. So one third of the workers are picking peaches, many of them single moms and others, and not getting any of the benefits. They're getting $9 an hour instead of the 11 they would have if they have a contract. So by delaying, the company is costing these workers millions of dollars. So we already have resolutions passed nine zero from Berkeley, 12 zero, including Republican members of the L.A. City Council, six zero with one exception from. The L.A. school district that has all this language in it. So I appreciate. The research being done. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I wanted to clarify that we prefer a much stronger. Thank you. Well, it'll it'll it'll come back next week, so. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please. Thank you. But I'm not as. Good with council members. My name is Alberta Vermeulen. Your travel companion. You know about me? I work for urban farming. We're part of the committee to know other the contractor. I was part of the negotiating committee. But the contract suggests that. We already have the contract, but the company doesn't want to respect that. I want to respect the contract as the. La companion without a. Know. The company is has been trying to get away. From the holes. Unions supporters. Uniform out of London as I later. Of. In any or other way they've been trying to. Push them to go away. Comparable condos around Eldorado or Atari. For example. When I began the nectarine or the Peaches. If the former the good Lord, Lord, they get down, all of them who are listening. Are you. There trying to find. A way to make a. Warning there. Like a write up. Warning to you? A party normally that is. I've been seeing different issues. Comparable Taekwondo South Korean companero if they're not allowed to wear my cuatro that. For example, I saw one of my coworkers fall. Down. And he was down like around 4 hours. A Domino's, but I don't look very good at all. No, not. But I don't. And I was working in a crew, the just crew. The whole crew has been supporting the union and. And this and they stabbed a crew. In a militarism of Korea. And the 13 the the subject crew. CONAN O'Brien. No, but I don't know. And they just make the crew they give more. Work to the crew just for the support of. The union. And those are no different. My thumbs up. So the crew was alerting us. They're giving us more word because we are supporters of the union. It was allowing us to enter mine, but there was. Not tomorrow, tomorrow. And the next year there. And they give us a word. But another crew. The party don't want. But all matters, companeros. So I have to find a job with another crew. With another crew boss and my. But my. Other coworkers. There's not much they. Can really find a crew that they can get. Back to work. In the company. Because the there was supporting. The union. That's it. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm going to read just to repeat something in Spanish. I know there's people's coming to speak just on where were the councils that was created by talking about Espanol? If they had a snack thanks to each other, to Singapore, Orlando, Vamos, a local watering on menudo. But between. Darell, I've got to ask you that. Describe owner a young. Give our needle a proxima semana. So as I said Maccabee in a paragraph cited by council without a partizan resolution so but reciprocate also one of the youngest is getting okay. In that respect allowed us his syllabus out of that resolution. Okay, senor. Um, but I'm not just me. Numbers do not look at WADA. Good evening. My name is Daniel Rivera. So I want. I'm a girl. One worker at a Holloway lab, and I companion for those I knew. I mean that I'm his cuatro. I have him. Work. In and girl. For around two years to. Support my kids. My four kids. Durante was nine years old. All the the kids you know, I looked out. There and. Just years I. Been feeling and, um. The pressure. Um. They're the. Dang. I didn't throw out the. The pressure that we got in there. In the field work. It was color out of place at the but Amy promised companero. I will look here. I've been looking for. Oh to improve uh my life. My coworkers lives. Ebola criminals don't come with the needle. And for the second year we have. Been in the company. With this criminal activity. I knew. I was discriminated. For my union activity. Compare that for me to go Picasso. Through the door, the. Lrb the embassy. In my. Case. It was hard and I don't enjoy. Around me quality. And I was able to get back to work but was in another crew. That wasn't my. So whether you're talking about my mom, my original crew. Yeah. Companeros de la Union. And the crew. All the odds, of course, in this group. Thanks to parasail organizers and the companeros. This action affecting us to keep organizing. The ourself and to organize with my coworkers. Lack. Companion or. To company doesn't respect the law. That's why we we will like to support this film. Thank you very much. Can I just. Thank you. Next speaker, please. No press of any religion. My name is Ofelia Reyes. You say go away, Grandma. Why me? I'm a and I'm a girl. And I'm a girl. One worker. Isn't a prima. And we call. It la prima. E a how do I go the torture. I join them, bruh. I've been working there for around 14 years. Four seasons I set up in the U.S.A.. You're Mary, Kentucky killer. El Trabajo Ebro Bahama. No, no, no. Stop. Moldavia, they plan well, like Iran two years ago. I just nutters. They're, um. They're not giving us the wages they're supposed to be. They have to give us. Yeah. Yeah, this is hard, but it made me second think. I think so. You know, and because I'm a I'm a single. Mother and. And I need to work, and. I. Think. And I have five kids to support. You put us on the metro a hundred years. Who took a human director? Randal Musk. With no luck on contract. Though, as I was there was I. Was working there and then I noticed the, um, they've been paying us like contractor workers just. $99. Per year, but I have already paid dostana through. And the more I do that and the. Direct her. Employees they've been having. They work in the same field, in the same place and the same room. Father owns a dollar. And they pay them 11, $11. You know, so the rebels do agree me, Cynthia Discriminator, Paul, NATO's model. And when I realize about this difference, I feel discriminated. No excuse to throw estamos throw one more sugar in me small but strong. You've done abogado diferencia because this it's not fair. We were working in the same place. And the same. Company and they given giving us different wages. He can be in the way with this. No Mandhana, no through Caruana, through era or the league. Ms.. Laws provides order and greater autonomy. Uh, our, like, contractor workers. They they make us to law, to love the leather, to carry our own leather. And they help guards who load. Rihanna and Thrilla in a third. I mean, not at all. Okay, so. And. So the. Acquirers, I think they. Have they have they they have help to carry their their leather. And we need to get our own leather. Put a sock in the drawer, get in with them being honest. Up to Apollo they this. That's why we need you support the support of you guys. In his. Travel journals. They were very close. We really almost. Seem to be rather eager to see those, to. Be considerate. And. Grateful. He said, I can be a hello this come on your patella. You're looking at me the most. Because we are. Workers and we're just asking to respect the law. With no real contact. Senator, thank you very much. So what I'm going to do also, because I think you've heard from the council where this is going, I'm going to be cutting out the speaker's list. I think come forward if you're on the air, if you want to speak. John, I think I have a gentleman, this lady and that gentleman in the hat. I'm going to go and cut off the speaker's list and the council is going to take a vote on this. We can move on to the other items. So I have the next three people. Unless there's any objection to that, I have these three folks in line. We're going to speak and then the council's going to take a vote. Okay. Sounds good. So. So, gentleman in the Red Hat, you're the last you're the last one on the speaker's list. Okay. Speaker's list is closed, sir. No. Yes. My name's Roberto Moreno and. I've been working there for going for already like 14 years and so seasonal. And I just want it to be like the, the contract. Like, you know. Gain control to push, implement, implement the contract. Because, um, well, I mean, that's the law. And, I mean, the judge already passed the. The contract. So it should be. Implemented. And. And that. Thank you, sir. Next speaker. And my final two speakers on the list, please. Name is Suzanne Darwish. I'm a longtime supporter of farm workers. It was my first job out of seminary. Over 50 years ago. I worked for the California Migrant Ministry. And I'm sure you all know. That farm workers are at the bottom of the social and economic level because they don't have the power, and yet we need them because we all eat. So we. As you recognize, Mayor Garcia, so we. Need to care about. The conditions under. Which our food is harvested. Don't you think 24. Years in negotiation is long enough for one company this company. Has managed to evade. We have a California is lucky to have the agriculture labor relations board and the act we we are the only state in the union. We have the. Best laws in the nation. But they are not enforced because there are too many farms and not enough inspectors, which is why we. Need the union and the people that are. We. We had people dying in the fields from. Heat exhaustion and. Not water and not. Shade breaks. This is the law that they are. Entitled to that. They're only asking for that. And I think. The the ground company has managed to evade the. Agriculture Labor Relations Act, a board. Voted to. In their favor, in the favor. Of the farm workers, and they have. Managed to avoid. Fulfilling the terms of the contract. And so. I implore you. Please, to support this resolution as it was presented to you tonight and move things along. I think. 24 years. Is long enough. Thank you. Thank you. And our final speaker. My name. My name is Henry. While I used to be a farm worker back in the seventies, I worked for a company based out of Blythe, California, and we would pick garlic in 120 degree weather. And for £50 of garlic, we got paid a nickel for a while there on the farm. The farmers would try to fight the Teamsters against us. And so I've been in protests where the Teamsters would come off their trucks with baseball bats trying to club us. And so I'm urging you to support this because just think picking £50 of garlic in a 120 degree weather. And back then when you wanted to go to the restroom, they would tell you, oh, go across the street. That's someone else's land. And. You should support this. Thank you. Thank you, sir. So with that. Public comment is now closed. There is a motion on the floor to have the city attorney draft resolution bring the language back to the council members. Please cast your votes. Councilman Richardson. Motion carries eight zero. Thank you. Motion carries. Now we're going to go back to the regular agenda. Which I believe we are now hearing. Number three. Does that sound about right or no? Yes. Yeah, it's going to be a long one. Item three report from Financial Management Recommendation. Thank you all. Thanks all for coming. Okay. Gracias. Thank you very much. Okay. Good luck. But it's worth it now. Next item.