Rafael Malfavon has spent 10 years moving wine through the warehouse at Rodney Strong Vineyards, and he says the pay still leaves him deciding “whether I buy food or new shoes.” Now he and what the union calls a majority of the Healdsburg winery’s production workers are mounting one of the few large-scale union drives California wine has seen in more than 40 years.
The workers — in bottling, the warehouse and the cellar — are signing up with Teamsters Local 665, which represents workers across eight Bay Area counties. On May 29 they handed Rodney Strong a petition asking the company to stay neutral and recognize the union through a “card check” rather than a formal election, according to the union and the Press Democrat. The company said no. What started on one winery floor is now shaping up as a test of whether the discontent spreads across a struggling Sonoma County wine industry.
Key Takeaways
- Production workers at Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg are organizing with Teamsters Local 665.
- On May 29 they asked the family-owned winery to recognize the union through a card check; the company refused and pointed to a secret-ballot election instead.
- The union says a majority of bottling, warehouse and cellar staff back the effort; the San Francisco Chronicle reported about 50 signed the petition.
- It is one of the few large-scale union drives in California wine in more than 40 years, and it comes as the industry slumps.
- Officials from the United Farm Workers and the United Food and Commercial Workers are backing the drive, hoping it spreads.
What the workers want
A card check lets an employer recognize a union once a majority of workers sign cards, skipping the secret-ballot election run by the National Labor Relations Board. Workers asked Rodney Strong to agree to that and to promise not to retaliate. The winery refused and, the union says, hired a firm that specializes in fighting union drives — the Redd Group, led by Jesse Rojas. The company did not confirm hiring the firm to the Press Democrat.
Rodney Strong says the secret ballot is the fairer path. “Card check neutrality agreements restrict our organization’s right to make its views known, dilute transparency and rules protecting employees’ individual choices, and — most important — deprive each employee of the right to make a choice free from pressure or influence by taking away the right to a secret ballot election,” communications director Christopher O’Gorman said in a statement to the Press Democrat. He said the decision should run through “the longstanding federally regulated framework, which ensures a transparent process where employees can express their views privately and independently without intimidation.”
Mike Yates, president of Teamsters Local 665, framed it as the company’s choice to make. “When you’re working together, good things happen and companies are successful,” he said. “But when it’s an us versus them mentality, it’s a lot harder.”
A march through the vines
The workers went public on May 29, when a coalition the union put at more than 60 delivered the petition. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that about 50 production staff signed it. On June 20, during the winery’s annual summer garden party, dozens of workers and more than 150 labor and community supporters marched outside the Healdsburg winery to a Sinaloan brass band, calling on Rodney Strong to sign the neutrality agreement.
Rodney Strong is family-owned, founded in 1959 as the 13th winery bonded in Sonoma County and run by the Klein family since 1989. It employs 173 people. The Chronicle called the drive one of the few large-scale efforts to unionize wine industry workers in more than 40 years.
The workers say the math at home is the reason. “The company talks a lot about how we are a family, but how are we going to feel like a family when I can’t even afford to rent my own apartment?” Malfavon said in remarks the union provided. “I had to take on a second job, and I feel tired, frustrated, and more than anything depressed that I only have time to talk to my wife during my 15 minute breaks at work.”
Abraham Silva, a barrel and cellar worker with 19 years at Rodney Strong, said the problem is respect as much as money. “I have seen injustices to us as workers in the winery when we complain about problems, and management doesn’t help us,” he said. “All of us as workers deserve to be respected.”
Will others follow
The reason the Rodney Strong fight is drawing officials from unions with no stake in this one winery is the same reason it is happening now: the wine business is contracting. U.S. alcohol consumption is falling, and the workers point to recent layoffs as part of what pushed them to organize, the Chronicle reported. Organizers are betting the squeeze sends more workers their way.
Labor friction has been surfacing elsewhere in wine country, where Yountville’s French Laundry is facing three labor lawsuits, and the county is reworking its rules for farmers who want to change crops.
“We hear from winery workers every day, who are looking to secure improved wages, better working conditions, and legally-binding protections against layoffs,” said Cliff Thomas, a division coordinator for the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The United Farm Workers, which is pressing its own contract fights across California agriculture, lined up behind the Rodney Strong workers too. “We stand in solidarity with the winery workers at Rodney Strong Vineyards in their fight for a union,” said Armando Elenes, the UFW’s secretary-treasurer.
For now, Rodney Strong has not agreed to neutrality, which leaves the workers facing the NLRB secret-ballot election the company says it prefers — the slower, harder road they tried to skip. The organizers are betting the rest of Sonoma County’s cellar crews are watching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which winery is this, and who owns it?
Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg, founded in 1959 as the 13th winery bonded in Sonoma County and run by the Klein family since 1989. It employs 173 people.
What is a card check, and why won’t the company agree to one?
A card check lets an employer recognize a union once a majority of workers sign cards, without an NLRB secret-ballot election. Rodney Strong says the secret ballot better protects workers’ private choice; communications director Christopher O’Gorman said card-check agreements “deprive each employee of the right to make a choice free from pressure or influence.”
What happens next?
Unless Rodney Strong agrees to a neutrality deal, the workers’ path runs through an NLRB secret-ballot election. Union officials say they hope the drive encourages other Sonoma County winery workers to organize.