Farm workers in Sunnyside, Washington and labor union United Farm Workers (UFW) are calling for a boycott of Windmill Farms' mushrooms due to the farm's failure to recognize the union. Workers point to unrealistic harvest quotas, union-busting, and mistreatment of workers as additional reasons for the boycott, UFW's first since 2005.
"We don't do it lightly," Antonio De Loera-Brust, an organizer with UFW, tells Food Tank. "We're doing it because the company has refused to recognize what their workers have expressed their desire to be for years now. At a certain point, we have no other option."
Windmill Farms, formerly known as Ostrom farms, is one of the largest mushroom producers in Washington and the only producer in Sunnyside. When the farm first opened, owners promised good-paying local jobs, according to Roman Pinal, National Vice President of UFW. "They definitely oversold their presence in the community," Pinal tells Food Tank.
In 2023, the company paid a US$3.4 million settlement in a lawsuit claiming discrimination against female workers. Around this time, the farm was purchased by international investing firm Instar, changing the farm's name to Windmill. With the new ownership came mass firings; employees were offered their old jobs back, but at lower wages, according to UFW.
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