According to a news report in the LA Times, The Wonderful Company has restored a pay cut after 1,800 farmworkers stopped work to protest. The farmworkers, who pick Halo mandarins, were reportedly told last week that the price paid for filling a bin with the fruit would drop from $53 to $48. Although the state mandates that agricultural workers receive a minimum wage, currently $12 per hour, many companies boost that pay through “piece” rates based on how much they pick.
However, the issue has not been entirely resolved. “It’s a big victory, but there are a lot of other issues,” said Armando Elenes, secretary-treasurer of the United Farm Workers union, which does not formally represent the workers.
Last month, Wonderful announced it had raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour. However, this applies to the estimated 2,000 year-round, full-time workers it hires directly, including those who process and pack fruit and nuts. Therefore, some workers and their representatives are still fighting for what they see as other unresolved issues. Strike leader Luis Benitez, a Bakersfield resident who has picked citrus for 15 years, said the company has not responded to complaints about unpaid time between reporting for work and starting to pick, among other issues. “What we want is to talk to a representative of the company,” he said.
In response, The Wonderful Co. said in a statement, "We’ve resolved the main concern raised by our third-party labor contractors and are currently paying the same bin rate for picking mandarins that we previously paid for clementines. Our workers are back on the job and operations have returned to normal."