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%.