BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — In a farm labor dispute, a former worker at the Wonderful Company says she paid employees to protest against the Farm Workers Union. This could be a big turning point in the case.
Maria Gutierrez is an ex-employee of Wonderful Nurseries. She testified at a labor hearing that she distributed cash and fast food to Wonderful Company employees in exchange for them attending a protest against the United Farm Workers Union.
"Yo les di $100, algunos les di $50." I gave some of them $100, others received $50, Gutierrez told me. The money was to cover their gasoline expenses. Unknown to Gutierrez, someone was secretly videotaping her as she handed out the money from her car. The video was shared by the United Farm Workers Union.
Since 2022, the Wonderful Company and the UFW have been at odds over a union election at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco.
Wonderful Company is challenging election results certified by the state that the UFW won the election. Some workers claim they were tricked into voting for the union. The union contends Wonderful paid protesters to demonstrate against them.
I asked, "Did the Wonderful Company give you any money to give to the workers?"
She said, "No! Nunca!" She said she never received any money from the Wonderful Company to pay the workers. She borrowed $6,000 from a friend to pay the workers on her own.
I reached out to both the Wonderful Company and the United Farm Workers Union for comment.
The Wonderful Company sent us this statement that reads in part:
"We're more than happy to restate what the UFW knows full well: the numerous anti-UFW protests over the past 18 months were organized by farmworkers themselves who want the union out of their lives. Wonderful Nurseries has had nothing to do with any of those protests whatsoever, in any way. Claiming the opposite on social media doesn’t change those facts."
The UFW has declined to comment.
Maria Gutierrez says since the video was released, she’s been subjected to ridicule. She hasn’t been able to find stable work, and the Wonderful Company where she worked for 26 years no longer wants her. She feels the deepest pain from the co-worker who recorded her.
"Éramos compañeras y las compañeras mismas me traicionaron." We were coworkers, and my own coworkers betrayed me, she says.
It’s still unclear how this new information will affect whether the UFW stays recognized as the official winner of the union election.
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