UFW Contract Settled Bruce
Church Inc., the third-largest lettuce grower in the U.S. reached a five-year
contract with the UFW that will give field workers expanded medical coverage
and increase wages by 4%.
The contract not only ends 17 years of boycotts and suits, but represents the
UFW's first contract with a lettuce grower in years. The UFW boycott against
lettuce prompted a lawsuit by Bruce Church which it won against the union, but
earlier this year the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned the huge damage award
and Bruce Church returned to seeking a settlement.
Under the new contract that the UFW and Bruce Church worked out, lettuce
workers received not only a expanded medical package but an increase from the
previous hourly wage of $7.63 to $7.95 per hour. Raises over the next few years
will average just over 2%.
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