LV union protests against food seller

Grace Leong

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

A Las Vegas union protested Thursday at a large Hispanic grocery store as part of a nationwide effort to force the nation's largest Hispanic foods seller, Goya Foods Inc., to reinstate four whistleblowers fired last June allegedly for complaining about alleged unsanitary conditions at its Miami warehouse.

Some 25 members of UNITE -- or the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees -- picketed in North Las Vegas in front of the Supermercado Del Pueblo, a major retailer of Goya products, to condemn what it calls the "illegal termination" of its four Miami union leaders and to force Goya to respect the free speech rights of its Hispanic workforce in Miami.

The union, which currently represents 1,500 warehouse workers in Las Vegas and 250,000 in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, said it plans to escalate its protests -- which began in San Diego on March 13 -- until the four workers are reinstated with compensation.

Cristina Vasquez, the union's vice president, expected about 50 Las Vegas members to protest. She said the protest was successful even though only half of them showed up because the rest had to work overtime.

UNITE -- which said it won the right in fall 1998 to represent Goya's Miami warehouse workers, truck drivers and sales people -- said demonstrations were held in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, California, Florida and Ontario, Canada.

"Today's protest in Las Vegas is not a boycott of the store or Goya products ... not yet at least ... We want retail and wholesale customers to know how Goya treats its employees and communicate their concerns to Goya or Supermercardo," said Hillary Horn, the union's spokeswoman.

"The stores should be in support of free speech for Goya workers," she said. "If the workers are silenced and prevented from revealing public health problems, it doesn't instill trust in the product and that will be of concern to retailers."

Horn said the four former Goya workers, Alberto Turienzo, Humberto Galvez, Reinaldo "Manny" Bravo and Jesus Martin, were fired in July 1999, shortly after they participated in a 1,200-worker rally on June 30 in protest against Goya Foods' alleged health and safety violations at its Miami subsidiary's bean packaging plant.

"Goya needs to realize they have committed a great injustice by unfairly firing us for speaking out about public health hazards," Turienzo said.

The union said Goya Foods of Florida's bean packaging plant was shut down temporarily by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services after investigations prompted by complaints filed by the four workers on June 24 revealed rodent droppings and unsanitary equipment at the plant.

Goya Foods' Miami warehouse, which allegedly received the state agency's lowest rating for overall sanitation, was also ordered to destroy 900 pounds of insect-infested rice, the union said.

"There were rat bodies in the glue traps, and live rodents sighted in between the packages of bulk rice in the delivery trucks. The inspectors found rodent droppings in bean packaging rooms, where the smaller packages were made," UNITE's Horn said.

Rafael Toro, Goya's spokesman, said the company -- whose motto is "If it's GOYA, it has to be good" -- closed its 20-year old bean packaging facility for three days in June, but denied any sanitation problems at the plant.

"If there were health and safety problems, it won't take much for us to go and investigate it. It's in our interest to do it. Do you think we can be in this business for 64 years by having a cavalier attitude?" Toro asked.

"Goya has ignored the complaints of workers about public health problems, ignored the law and retaliated against the workers who spoke out and ignored the cries of elected officials in Miami who called for the reinstatement of the workers. Therefore we are taking our cause around the country," the union's Horn said.

Despite the union's threats, Goya's Toro said the company has no plans to reinstate the workers. "They were not terminated for union activity. They were fired because they went into a Winn-Dixie supermarket, one of our customers, in Miami, and caused a disturbance until the police had to escort them out. No business would tolerate that."

UNITE's Horn however, disagreed. "That's a lie. We asked the police to be there. The workers didn't do anything improper and there were no arrests made. We only wanted the supermarket to ask Goya about sanitation conditions at its (Miami) warehouse."

Supermercado's manager, Hugo Fuentes, said its two Las Vegas-area stores are still selling Goya products after having inspected the merchandise Thursday morning.

"So far everything seems fine. We're not sure if we'll stop selling Goya products ... unless something goes wrong and we find droppings."

Supermercado has a second smaller store at Charleston Boulevard and Valley View Drive in Las Vegas.