What’s at stake?
One driver with the Central California Food Bank told Fresnoland he was told that a ride-along with a consultant who discouraged him and his colleagues from joining the union was mandatory — something union organizers say blurred the lines legally.
On Friday, drivers for the Central California Food Bank will decide whether they want union representation.
But in the lead-up to the vote that could make history at the Fresno nonprofit, organizers and drivers say the food bank has hired a consultant, known for advising companies in California on how to avoid unionization, to discourage them from exercising their rights.
And the way that consultant has been deployed by management at the food bank is “blurring the lines” legally, organizers say.
“While they’ll tell you that they’re not breaking any laws, we have evidence because of worker statements that are made that they are,” said Justin Scott, president of Teamsters Local 431, “and at the very least, they would be doing what I call blurring the lines.”
The Central California Food Bank turned down multiple requests for comment on this story and didn’t respond to specific questions about the claims made by drivers and union organizers.
Over the past two months, organizers with Valley Forward and Teamsters Local 431 have been working to unionize the food bank’s 13 drivers to fight for better wages amid the rising cost of living in California.
One driver, who spoke with Fresnoland on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from his employer, said even drivers like himself who have put in several years at the food bank receive “pennies and dimes” for raises, typically between 30 and 60 cents.
“It’s a slap in the face,” he said.
Then in early October, a consultant named Raul Calvo and associates with his firm, Employer Services LLC, started meeting with drivers at the food bank to discourage them from unionizing, according to the driver who spoke with Fresnoland.
“He would just say all the negative things against the union. ‘Don’t do this. They’re tricking you guys. They just want this. You’re not gonna get what they said you’re gonna get. Some of you may even get fired.’ They put the fear in some of the guys,” the driver said.
“Some of the guys fell for that.”
Under federal law, employers can contract with labor relations consultants, which can engage in certain activities to “persuade employees to exercise or not to exercise” their rights to form a union. Those activities are subject to strict reporting requirements.
But the lines started to blur legally, organizers say, when drivers were told that a woman with Calvo’s firm would be riding along with them on one of their drives.
The food bank driver said that management at the nonprofit told him and other drivers that the ride-alongs were mandatory.
In 2024, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that so-called “captive-audience” meetings were illegal. The ruling describes these as meetings employees are required to attend “under threat of discipline or discharge” in which the employer “expresses its views on unionization.”
“They just said, she’s riding with you guys, and I got upset. To be honest with you, I refused,” the food bank driver said.
“I said to the main people that were sitting there, you know, the head bosses, I said: ‘Hey, is this legal?’ And they told me, yes, it was. I said, ‘Well, is it mandatory?’ They said, yes, it was,” he added. “So that’s when I kind of left it alone because you can’t … argue with them when it’s mandatory. But then I found out through the union it wasn’t mandatory.”
Scott said the framing of the ride-alongs reflects poorly on management’s view of their drivers.
“It seems to me that they almost feel like their workers are stupid or ignorant,” he said, “and don’t understand their rights. But we do a very good job of informing and educating these individuals on what their rights are under the law.”
Despite the efforts to dissuade him and his coworkers from joining the union, the driver who spoke with Fresnoland said he plans to cast his vote later this week.
“It’s not trying to tear anybody down or make them go out of business. I’m not trying to do that to them. I just want to be recognized and (for the food bank to) realize they’re doing something wrong and treat us with equality and fairness,” he said. “That’s what I want. I’m sure most of the other drivers want the same thing.”
‘It would also make history’
Scott said this isn’t the first time he’s come across Calvo in his organizing work with the Teamsters locally.
He said Calvo was also brought in as a consultant on the union’s ultimately successful campaign in March to unionize drivers and landfill workers with Redrock Environmental Group, a Chowchilla waste management company owned by Caglia Environmental.
Public records show Calvo’s firm brought home as much as $669,585 in a calendar year for a labor relations contract with Curation Foods in 2021.
A 2023 letter from Calvo to Wonderful Nurseries states that he requires an “initial retainer fee of $15,000.” The letter adds that Employer Services charges a daily fee of $2,500 per consultant.
Earlier this year, the progressive news site Truthout also reported that Calvo invoked ICE in an implied threat against vineyard workers looking to unionize, a claim Calvo didn’t respond to.
Calvo didn’t return a message from Fresnoland requesting comment on this story.
Fresnoland asked for a copy of any written agreement between the food bank and Calvo’s firm and reached out to the U.S. Department of Labor to inquire whether the food bank had filed any required forms with the agency.
If Calvo’s past contracts are any indication of how much he might be compensated for working with the food bank, Scott said it raises questions about where the nonprofit’s financial priorities lie.
“It begs the question, if money is not the issue — which it clearly seems money is not the issue, if you’re paying a union-buster — what is the reason why you’re trying to prevent your workers from getting a contract?” he said.
The food bank’s 13 drivers will vote whether to certify Teamsters Local 431 as their bargaining representative on Friday morning.
The driver who spoke with Fresnoland said he hopes the unionization vote will move the needle for how drivers are treated and compensated.
“It also would make history,” he said, “because the food bank really hasn’t had anyone stand up to them like that.”
Clarification: This story has been updated to include that organizers with Valley Forward also worked on the unionization efforts.
Related
Dining and Cooking