(WOLCOTT, NEW YORK) – The United Farm Workers (UFW) is asking the General Public for its help when it comes to H-2A Temporary Foreign Workers who are employed at Wolcott’s Wafler Farms, alleging wage theft and management’s abuse of those Workers.

On its website, the UFW said Wafler Farms’ Workforce is primarily made up of H-2A Temporary Foreign Workers who’ve voted to be represented by the UFW.

However, the Union says Wafler is refusing to recognize the Workers' choice. 

Some of the reasons the Workers want a Union, the UFW says, include verbal abuse, respect on the job - and most importantly, what Workers say is wage theft. 

The Union is asking the public to tell the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) to immediately investigate the wage theft that Workers are reporting.

Workers also say they are tired of the many tasks they are forced to do every day without pay - including traveling between work locations and captive audience meetings. 

One H-2A Worker tells the UFW: "Every morning my Co-Workers and I are required to report to the office before seven a.m.  We are required to be there at least seven minutes before 7 a.m. Once we arrive at the office, we are not allowed to clock in.  In the office our boss, Paul Wafler, conducts a meeting.  We can be waiting anytime between (15-to-30) minutes before we're dismissed to go to our posts in the fields.  Even once we're dismissed from the office we are not able to clock in until we plug in the thumb drive on our individual machines."

And then there is the abuse and intimidation, the UFW says. 

A Worker sent the Union a video of a four-minute rant by Owner Paul Wafler, which Workers were forced to listen to - without pay. 

The UFW provided a partial transcript of the video: "When you go to work, that's what your time is.  When you start crying, did you feel like you were shorted for fifteen minutes?  It's because you decided to take a tap out before the time interval is over.  That's tough s***t.  That's on you guys.  You don't get organized in the morning to get in the van and go. That's tough s***t.  The job starts when we leave.  Not because you're just standing in here.  Let's get that real g** d*** clear.  And if you want to leave the lights on the van and then delay everything to get going because you still don't know how to drive a van again, that's tough s*** too.  If you have a problem with your pay, you let somebody know.  That f***ing morning, not a week later in the paycheck."

These Workers deserve an immediate end to these reported practices and what they say are unpaid wages, the UFW said.

To Read This Labor News Report In Its Entirety, Go To: This has to end NOW. Tell NY DOL to investigate Wafler Farms’ alleged wage theft and abuse. (seiu.org)