Walmart-at-the-Crossroads-FINAL-06.04.15

parts of their wages go to the employment agency) and are forced to work under the constant threat of being
easily replaced.
On March 12, 2012, Victor Borja, a nine-year employee through Abel Mendoza, slipped from a
Photo courtesy of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters
machine and crushed his foot:
“Two days later, I received a call from Abel Mendoza’s
office. A woman informed me that [plant manager] Omar
Estrada had told their office that I was laid off… I later
asked for something in writing stating why I had been let
go, but they told me that they don’t operate that way – they
don’t give anything in writing.”
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Perhaps the most disturbing part of Borja’s story is
that this termination did not surprise him. He said
his first thought after his fall was that he was going to
be fired because he had seen co-workers suffer a full
range of injuries, “and one thing always happened. If
they reported it, they would get fired.” Borja describes a workplace where fear of termination has created an
environment where instead of reporting injuries, many workers simply try to fix the problem themselves.
The worker leaders and the Teamsters organizers were able to collect enough signatures on union
authorization cards to file for an election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The vote on
whether the workers wanted the Teamsters to be their union representative was held on March 27 and 28, 2014.
Right after the vote, in an unprecedented move, the NLRB impounded the ballots since the Teamsters had filed
hundreds of complaints of Unfair Labor Practices before the vote. Since the NLRB has a slow process of
hearing grievances, most of these complaints about intimidation, threats, and illegal firings have not been
resolved. This delay has allowed the company to fire even more union supporters.
Although confronting many challenges, the Taylor Farms workers continue to organize for living wages,
benefits, and respect on the job. Their efforts have resulted in some improvements, such as paid sick days for
direct-hires (before California state law mandated the provision of paid sick days), transportation between the
employee parking lots and the facilities, and some temporary agency employees being hired on as direct
employees.
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