U.S. Labor Laws Broken: Blue Diamond Fires, Intimidates to Stop Union

Ivo Camilo spent most of his working life at Blue Diamond Growers, the large almond producer, in Sacramento, and then he dared to try to a form a union.

"After 35 years, they fire me," he told U.S. House members in 2007, his voice breaking. "My sister works there for 42 years but she's afraid to let them know she's for the union."

Speaking at a labor subcommittee hearing on the Employee Free Choice Act, Camilo described the many anti-union flyers, captive-audience meetings and one-on-one talks with management. Supervisors threatened workers, saying they could lose their pensions and the plant would be shut down if they voted for the union.

In April of 2005, Camilo and others working to unionize through the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers, signed a letter to management. "We told them we knew our rights under the National Labor Relations Act and we expected those rights to be respected. Less than a week later I was fired."

The company claimed that Camilo, a machine operator at Blue Diamond, "willfully contaminated the almonds" when he got a tiny scratch on his hand while fixing a scale. His supervisor later recanted the charges under oath.

In March 2006, the National Labor Relations Board ordered Blue Diamond to rehire Camilo and another fired worker. A short time later, Camilo decided to retire and become a full-time union activist — and champion of the Employee Free Choice Act. The workers are still trying to unionize.