Unionized Pindar workers still have no contract, health insurance

Unionized workers at Pindar Vineyards are demanding that Long Island's largest winery negotiate a contract more than a year after winning the right to unionize. 

The workers held a protest at the entrance to the Southold winery last weekend, holding signs accusing Pindar of "refusing to provide fair wages, any health insurance or union protections." They urged winery visitors to tell Pindar's owners to "stop crushing their workers' fight for a fair union contract." 

Pindar Damianos, vineyard manager and a co-owner of the vineyard, declined to comment. 

Last year, around a dozen Pindar workers became part of the first state-recognized agricultural labor union in New York. They are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 338 after being certified on Sept. 27 by the New York State Public Employment Relations Board.

Pindar farmworkers won the right to collectively bargain and negotiate benefits. They unionized under the 2019 Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, which provides for workplace protections such as worksite safety standards, salary raises, overtime pay and contractual employment requirements.

But Neil Gonzalvo, executive vice president of the union, said since that ratification they've been unable to get Pindar to negotiate in good faith.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.