Militant/Bernie Senter

Hundreds of vineyard workers and supporters marched through Santa Rosa, California, November 22 to demand health benefits for the workers at Gallo of Sonoma. Company president Matthew Gallo has refused to extend medical benefits to workers hired as contract employees—some 75 percent of the workforce—as part of ongoing company efforts to weaken the United Farm Workers (UFW) union, which represents the Gallo workers. The company, which sells $1.7 billion of wine annually, campaigned this spring to oust the union by getting workers to sign decertification cards. The union charges that Gallo used fraud and intimidation to collect the signatures. The UFW is threatening to call for a boycott of the vintner to win its demands.  
 
 
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