The California strawberry industry claims strawberry workers don't need public support to organize for better pay and conditions. They argue that workers at individual companies can vote in union elections under California law.

Thousands of farm workers have voted over the years for the United Farm Workers in secret-ballot elections and their victories have produced many union contracts that improve field laborers' lives and working conditions.

But in the strawberry industry elections haven't mattered. When workers vote for the UFW, this industry plows under crops, fires workers, and selectively shuts down operations rather than negotiate a contract.

• On May 12, 1989, strawberry workers at Furukawa Farms in Santa Maria voted 300 to 195 for the UFW. The company refused to bargain in good faith and soon shut down.
• On May 18, 1994, Oceanview Produce Co. workers in Oxnard, including about 350 strawberry pickers, voted 298 to 278 for the UFW. Before the election, company agents illegally threatened strawberry workers with loss of their jobs if the union won. After voting, Oceanview shut down its strawberry operations.
• The plight of employees at VCNM Farms in Salinas typifies the perils strawberry workers face when they try to exercise their legal right to organize a union. Here's what happened at VCNM:

The workers vote 332 to 50 (87 percent to 13 percent) for UFW representation.

VCNM begins plowing under fields. The UFW files unfair labor practice charges with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB).

September 1995: VCNM says it will shut down. A VCNM foreman tells workers all strawberry growers have agreed not to hire VCNM employees who joined the August strike.

October 1995: The ALRB issues a formal complaint against VCNM for plowing under crops to discourage workers from supporting the union.

A VCNM foreman says some workers who didn't support the union will get jobs at a new ranch owned and operated by VCNM management.

February 1996: Agricultural economists and other strawberry experts tell the UFW that VCNM's decision to plow under fields did not appear to be a business decision, as the company claimed. But they refuse to testify at an ALRB hearing because their livelihoods depend on good relations from the strawberry industry.

March 1996: The ALRB settles the complaint against VCNM for $113,000, which is opposed by the UFW because it does not reinstate workers to their jobs.

Summer 1996: Strawberry workers tell UFW organizers they are afraid of losing their jobs, just like the VCNM workers.

It is clear that it will take public pressure on the entire strawberry industry before workers will be able to negotiate and win union contracts.

(For more information: Jocelyn Sherman, UFW, 408-763-4820; Richard Greer, AFL-CIO, 202-637-5279; Marc Grossman, UFW, 916-441-0766.)