BY CHRIS RAYSON
SEATTLE - About 120 farm workers walked off the job at Auvil Fruit Co. near Vantage, Washington, September 1 protesting mistreatment from supervisors and a "bonus" system that cheats them out of wages they earn.

The farm workers struck the apple orchard for four days, despite a massive police presence and strong arm tactics, including escorting scabs through picket lines. On September 5, about 40 strikers went back to work. Auvil laid them off out of seniority a few days later, replacing them with those who crossed the picket line.

Guadalupe Gamboa, director of the Washington State United Farm Workers, told the Militant that the strike did force Auvil to raise wages for picking Granny Smith apples.

The Auvil Fruit Co. walkout was the fourth wildcat farm worker strike this summer in the orchards of the Mattawa area of eastern Washington. Auvil is directly across the Columbia River from Mattawa, where farm workers and their supporters marched 1,500 strong on August 10 demanding a wage raise and the right to organize into unions and negotiate a contract.

The Auvil strike was sparked when the company laid off eight workers for "bruising" apples. Picker José Nevarez, of Mattawa, told the Tri-City Herald September 5, "If they find two bruised apples in three bins in a row, you can be fired."

One bin can hold as much as 2,000 apples. Prior to the strike, farm workers at Auvil Fruit got $17 for a bin of Granny Smith apples, with $5 held until the end of the season and paid as a "bonus." For a bin of Fuji apples $20 of the $35 wage is withheld. Workers who are fired or laid off for "bruising apples" are not paid the "bonus," giving company supervisors license for arbitrary mistreatment of pickers.

Gamboa was quoted in the September 4 Daily Record, published in Ellensburg, Washington, as saying, "In one case going back to 1996, a worker had earned over $1,000 in bonus money, but was fired before the season ended and did not get what he was entitled to."

After the strike, Auvil raised the wage for picking a bin of Granny Smith apples to $18 and is no longer withholding any part of this, Gamboa told the Militant. Auvil also announced it was reconsidering the wage it pays for a bin of Fuji apples.

In the afternoon of the first day of the Auvil strike, 26 patrol cars from the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office, the Grant County Sheriff's Office, and the Washington State Patrol were sent to keep Huntzinger Road, adjacent to the struck orchard, open. In a letter to the Washington State Patrol chief, Gamboa wrote that the troopers and deputies "participated in actions that chilled the workers' rights to organize for better job treatment... The specific intimidating actions engaged by these officials included displaying rifles and pointing video cameras at peaceful protesters and stopping and harassing protesters who were returning to the picket lines."

One worker was detained and then arrested after he tried to return to the picket line after going to a nearby store. Police then jailed him on an outstanding traffic violation.

The police mobilization to help break the strike at Auvil Orchard is complemented by stepped up Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) arrests of immigrant workers throughout eastern Washington. The Yakima Herald-Republic reported that on September 23, INS border agents assisted local police in arresting 36 men in sweeps through the towns of Wapato, Sunnyside, and Grandview in the lower Yakima valley. All but one chose "voluntary departure" to Mexico rather than going through a formal hearing.

The Herald-Republic added that, "Agents also picked up a few men who ran when approached by a Border Patrol vehicle. After one suspect was arrested he led agents back to the apartment where seven more suspected illegal aliens were arrested."

The INS raid arrested the largest number of suspected illegal immigrants since July, when 38 workers were arrested at a Wiley City fruit storage facility.

Chris Rayson is a member of United Transportation Union Local 845.  
 
 
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