WASCO, Calif. (Diya TV) — One of California’s largest agricultural employers plans to close its Central Valley grape nursery by the end of the year, raising concerns over job losses and a heated labor dispute with the United Farm Workers.
The Wonderful Co., owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, will close most of its 1,400-acre nursery in Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield. The company will donate the site to the University of California, Davis, along with a $5 million startup gift, officials confirmed this week.
At its seasonal peak, the nursery employed about 600 workers, many of whom supported a UFW effort to unionize under California’s new “card check” law. That law allows farmworkers to sign authorization cards off-site instead of holding secret-ballot elections on company property.
The company insists the decision was based on financial losses, not labor disputes. “The decision to wind down Wonderful Nurseries was purely a business decision and in no way, shape or form related to our ongoing litigation with the UFW,” said company spokesman Seth Oster. Workers and labor experts remain skeptical. The layoffs began only five months after the UFW scored a key legal win in its campaign to organize the workforce.
Victor Narro, a UCLA labor studies professor, said the move deserves scrutiny. “The question is, ‘What’s the reason they’re doing it?’” Narro said. “Is it really to avoid unionization, or is it a sound financial decision?”
Union leaders note that only about 20 employees remain at the facility. “At its peak, 600 workers would have been part of the bargaining unit,” said Elizabeth Strater, UFW’s director of strategic campaigns. “Now, just a fraction is left.”
Wonderful executives point to broader challenges in California agriculture. In February, company president Rob C. Yraceburu told employees that tens of thousands of vineyard acres have been abandoned across the state. He said falling demand for both table and wine grapes has led to “significantly decreased sales and record losses, with no expectation of a turnaround anytime soon.”
Oster said the nursery had been operating at a loss for several years, though he did not disclose the total losses or how long they had continued. UC Davis confirmed it will take over the facility later this year. The university said it plans to use the site for agricultural research and education.
“This gift expands one of the world’s leading agricultural research programs and will catalyze discovery and innovation,” said UC Davis spokesperson Bill Kisliuk. He added that the university has a history of respecting labor agreements, but the Wasco facility will operate differently from a commercial farm.
It remains unclear whether UC Davis will recognize any union representation at the site.
The closure follows months of accusations between Wonderful Co. and the UFW. The company accused the union of misleading farmworkers into signing union cards by linking them to $600 COVID-19 relief payments. It also submitted nearly 150 signed declarations from employees who claimed they misunderstood the cards.
The union dismissed those claims and released video evidence last year that appeared to show an anti-union worker handing out $100 bills to other employees to attend a protest against the UFW. The videos surfaced in hearings before the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which is reviewing whether the union should be certified.
With the nursery closing, the outcome of that case is uncertain. Few workers remain to unionize, though the board’s ruling could affect future disputes statewide.
UFW supporters say the shutdown feels like retaliation. Rosa M. Silva, a nursery worker and union organizer, said employees have long been told they have no right to demand raises or benefits. “I believe the company would rather shut down than negotiate with us,” Silva said.
In July, Silva joined other workers at a protest outside Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum, which has received more than $30 million in donations from the Resnicks. Protesters handed out fliers urging the couple to respect farmworkers.
“This is my message to the Resnicks,” Silva said at the rally. “If you can give millions to an art museum that most of your workers will never visit, why can’t you pay your workers something fair?”
The UFW filed its petition to represent Wonderful Nurseries workers in February 2023, marking what appeared to be one of its most significant organizing victories in recent years. The new card-check law helped revive its efforts across California after years of decline.
Wonderful has sued the state to overturn the law. A Kern County judge ruled the process likely unconstitutional, but an appellate court later allowed the law to remain in effect while reviewing the case.
Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said the Wasco closure fits a larger pattern. “Layoffs, store closures, and offloading organized worksites are all part of the anti-unionism playbook,” she said.
For now, the fate of the Wasco nursery—and the workers who once labored there—remains in flux.
