Why Are Rich Products Bakery Workers On Strike?
Bakery workers at a Rich Products frozen foods facility in Southern California have been on strike since November. Cristina Lujan, an employee and union member with BCTGM Local 37, discusses the working conditions and what these workers want.
Errol Schweizer: Why are you and your co-workers workers on strike?
Cristina Lujan: We are on strike because we're fighting for higher wages, affordable health care and to be treated with respect and dignity.
ES: How long have you folks been on strike?
CL: We've been on strike since November, over two months now.
ES: So what type of products do you folks make? Where are they found?
CL: We make ice cream cakes for companies like Baskin Robbins, Coldstone, Walmart WMT +2.2%, Costco, Ralph’s, Vons, Smart & Final SFS 0.0% and Safeway.
ES: What is it like to work in these facilities making ice cream cakes?
CL: We work under cold conditions obviously because it's ice cream. It's always wet because we always change over to different products and different cakes and we have to wash down the line. So we're always on wet surfaces and since we start at the beginning of the day until the end of day, it's just a go-go-go type of thing.
ES: How do you make an ice cream cake?
CL: Well, first it starts off with the tank bringing in the mix. It gets pasteurized, it gets thrown into these big tanks where it's produced into ice cream. And then it goes in through 2 pipelines. And then we have different size of pans for the different sizes of cakes and ice cream is dropped into the pan. And then it goes into the freezer and it's in there for 24 hours. And the next day it goes into either the packer line or they just need to add some cookie crumbs and then onto the unit filler line, which is the line I run.
ES: How many cakes do you make a day and how quickly can you make an ice cream cake?
CL: Thirteen Cakes per minute
ES: So that's 1 cake every 4 seconds. And just like that, you made another cake. You each make 6240 Ice cream cakes per day. That's amazing.
ES: Who works in these facilities?
CL: In our plant, I can say about 90% of us are women, a lot of them are single working moms, ages probably run between 40 to 55 years old.
ES: What has it been like during the COVID-19 pandemic?
CL: It's been very stressful. We all know COVID itself has been very terrifying, very stressful. And we've been working through it, we worked through the whole pandemic. I can say we were off maybe 2 weeks, at the most. You know, being fearful everyday going into work, for me, it was very scary because my mother started cancer treatment. So it was very stressful to not bring this home to her, and I still had to attend her and help her. And you were hearing from people that they've been positive because the company wasn't very good at informing us when people were leaving because of COVID. We were just kind of figuring it out on our own. And I didn't have to leave, thank God, because of COVID. But from what I heard from a lot of my co-workers, when they would leave, they were really pressured into coming back soon, with human resources on them, calling them every day. “How are you feeling? Did you get tested? When are you gonna come back?”
It was pretty hard and is still pretty stressful.
ES: Have you had to work a lot of overtime?
CL: Yes. They let you know, like 5 minutes before your shift is over. You're not even prepared to stay for overtime. And you have to stay as mandatory, there's no option. They don't ask you “can you stay”? It's “you have to stay”. And you don't know the amount of time. It could be 20 minutes only, it could be 3 hours, it could be 2 hours. You never know the amount of time you're gonna stay overtime.
ES: What are the demands of you and other striking workers at the Jon Donaire Facility?
CL: We are asking for higher wages, which is we're only asking for $1. Our contract is three years. So we were asking for $1 for each year, a total of $3 raise after 3 years and for insurance to remain the same plan that we have now because they want to raise what we pay out of pocket.
We’re asking them to notify us on overtime. And also we're demanding more sick days because we only have three sick days, which we have only because the state made it mandatory for us. And we are on a 7 point program. We're allowed from day 1 through a year we're allowed 7 points. You get 1 point for missing work. You get half a point for getting to work late. And you get half a point if say I asked for permission because I have a 9 A.M. doctor's appointment and I need to leave at 8:30 and the permission is denied. I can still leave to my appointment but I'll have to leave with half a point. We actually have women in our plant that are going through cancer treatments. One of my co-workers that I'm close to, she started cancer treatment right before our strike,. And she was denied many appointment. And that's something that it's a need, it is not because you want to, and she was denied all these appointments. Imagine she's going to accumulate her points eventually get fired.
ES: How can folks support your campaign?
CL: Well, the main thing is this, making it public to show the greed of this corporation. The worth of this corporation is $7.5 Billion dollars. So I think that they can afford to pay us what we're asking for. And we're gonna fight until we get something that's better. And please support our strike fund.
This interview has been abridged and lightly edited for clarity.
Note: Rich Products shared a statement with the author, including the following.
“We continue to operate in good faith and welcome back any striking workers with open arms, many of whom have already returned to work.
This is the first strike in Rich Products’ 77-year history – because the family-owned company consistently provides our associates with competitive wages, high-quality benefits, safe working conditions and a respectful working environment. We will continue to do so.
Rich’s associates, many of whom are multi-generational and average 10 years of tenure at the plant, currently have a platinum health-care plan, of which the company pays 90% of the premium with no deductible; up to 38 days of annual paid time off; and a company-paid pension plan. The company recently presented its last and final contract offer that would have retained all that, and also included wage increases for each of the three years of the next contract, to ensure wages continue to be at or above-market for similar roles in Los Angeles County.”
