Farmworkers union president steps down

Longtime head to be replaced by a woman

Longtime United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez will step down from leadership of the union founded by his father-in-law, Cesar Chavez, the union confirmed Tuesday.

His replacement, Teresa Romero, will be the first woman and first immigrant to lead the labor organization.

Romero, 60, the current secretary-treasurer of UFW, was born in Mexico City and has a background in office management and legal affairs. She has not worked in farm fields.

Rodriguez, 69, a native of San Antonio, Texas, came up through the organizing ranks of the UFW after joining the national grape boycotts as a college student. He married Chavez’ daughter, Linda, in 1974, and took over leadership after Chavez died in 1993. Chavez was born in Yuma, Ariz.

The UFW – based in Keene, Calif. – boasted a membership of about 80,000 in the early 1970s. It now reports 10,248 members nationwide, about 85 percent of them working under collective bargaining agreements, according to U.S. Dept. of Labor documents.

The vast majority of the state’s seasonal farm labor force, estimated at 350,000 to 450,000, do not belong to a union. The UFW, the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers are the top organizers. Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers union, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-san Diego) in Sacramento after California lawmakers passed legislation to expand overtime pay for more than 825,000 laborers in 2016.

Romero will inherit the challenges faced by her predecessor and by unions nationwide – increased mechanization and reliance on non-union contractors, and the whittling of the political power of organized labor.

The union has weathered several bruising battles to keep unionized workers from booting it out, and has been locked in a decadeslong standoff with the state’s largest fruit grower, Gerawan Farming.

The union also was hit last year with a milliondollar judgment to settle claims that its own organizers, who themselves formed a union, had been underpaid. The UFW reported $517,000 in settlements last year, according to federal documents. The union said it had net assets of $3.1 million.

The UFW’S decline has been mitigated by recent victories, including a contract inked with Salinas, Calif.-based produce company D’arrigo Bros., a

decades-long adversary. The contract came after months of personal diplomacy between family scion John D’arrigo and Rodriguez.

Rodriguez’ departure, first reported Monday by Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, was confirmed Tuesday by union spokesman Marc Grossman. La Opinion reported that Rodriguez will return to San Antonio and retain the title of honorary president.

Romero was selected by the union’s national executive board and will take over after Rodriguez steps down Dec. 20, UFW said in a written statement. She has been with UFW for nine years and previously managed a construction company and an immigration law firm, the union said. She came to the U.S. in the 1980s and is a U.S. citizen, according to UFW.

Romero faces an election at the union’s next constitutional convention in 2020, according to the UFW.