Hundreds of farm workers from the Wonderful Company went on strike after the company informed them of a pay cut Friday morning. The workers are calling it unfair.
The workers walked off the job in a field off Highway 65 by Merced Avenue and Quality Road.
The workers say the company informed them they would earn $5 less per bin that they fill each day with fruit.
Armando Elenes, United Farm Workers vice president, says workers typically fill one to two bins a day.
The workers plan to return Saturday morning to continue their protest.
Wonderful Citrus released a statement late Friday afternoon.
We are disappointed that some of our third-party labor contractors decided to protest at one of our fields. Seasonally, this is the time of year when we transition from harvesting clementines to mandarins. This season due to the smaller size of the clementines, we paid a premium for harvesting and we’re back to paying regular wages for mandarins. We are confident we will quickly resolve this matter.
