California vineyard laborers wanted wildfire safety. Then came a shadowy counter-movement

When Margarita García, a 39-year-old mother from Oaxaca, Mexico, picks wine grapes during a wildfire, the sky is red and thick with smoke. Ash falls on her face, irritating her throat and eyes. The hot, fast work makes N-95 masks too suffocating, so she and her colleagues opt for bandanas.

Vineyard workers, supported by the coalition North Bay Jobs with Justice, won a small but significant victory in February when the county board of supervisors agreed to establish a committee to formalize the permitting system for work in wildfire evacuation zones. For the first time, the public has a say in how the Ag Pass program will work. Whether or not the county will incorporate demands from workers like García has become a major point of contention.

But in recent months, a slick website has appeared under the name Sonoma Wine Industry for Safe Employees, or Sonoma Wise, featuring counterpoints to demands from North Bay Jobs with Justice.

Vineyard workers apparently affiliated with Sonoma Wise have rallied by the dozens against the new protections proposed by Jobs with Justice. Since then, several have stepped forward to say they felt pressured to participate by their employers.

One by one, workers told county board members similar versions of the same story: they always have access to clean water and clean bathrooms, they feel safe at work, and North Bay Jobs with Justice does not represent them. Translating for Spanish-speakers was Raul Calvo, owner of Employer Services, a firm that has earned at least $2m over the past eight years by attempting to convince workers to vote against unionization, US Department of Labor records confirm.

According to North Bay Jobs with Justice executive director Max Bell Alper, all of the workers who reached out said that many of those wearing t-shirts were either in a management position or working via the temporary agricultural worker program known as H-2A, meaning their US visa status is contingent on employer sponsorship. He added that some of the workers said they were paid to attend the meeting, and multiple said Calvo instructed the attendees on what kinds of things to say.

Jane McAlevey, author of A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy said it makes sense that similar tactics would be used against workers newly organizing for labor rights related to climate crisis impacts.

Figures affiliated with Sonoma Wise have a history of working for companies fighting unionization. The t-shirts made their first appearance at a gathering in April, scheduled to coincide with a rally North Bay Jobs with Justice held to pressure county officials. On hand to answer questions from reporters was Segale, who has repeatedly served as a spokesperson for companies facing labor disputes over the past 20 years.

With an early wildfire already prompting evacuations this month in the neighboring wine region of Napa county, even Segale of Sonoma Wise agrees that the Board of Supervisors must act with urgency to enact a new access policy.