Cesario Aguirre

Sacramento, Calif. Mechanic at Blue Diamond Growers

Cesario Aguirre

Cesario Aguirre, 47, is a mechanic for Blue Diamond Growers—the world’s largest almond processing plant. He has worked at the Blue Diamond facility at 17th and C streets for 28 years. In 2002, while repairing equipment in the plant’s production line, Aguirre suffered a near-fatal injury on the plant floor when an 800-pound hydraulic dumper fell on him.  Aguirre was unable to work for 16 months. Upon returning to work in 2004, he was shocked to learn he had lost all eligibility for paid holidays and vacation even though he had earned these benefits before taking leave due to his injury.  After over two decades of hard work and dedication, Aguirre felt as if he had been slapped in the face.

As time passed, Aguirre became increasingly frustrated with Blue Diamond’s behavior. As the company boasts of four straight years of increasing profits, Aguirre and his co-workers did not see the profits trickle down. This comes as no surprise to Aguirre. Over the past 15 years, plant workers have seen their wages stagnate while their health care costs skyrocketed. Aguirre and his co-workers decided to exercise their freedom to join a union because their wages are stagnant and they feel they have no respect on the job. In 2004, they came together to demand their right to bargain. 

Blue Diamond responded with a nasty campaign to fight the workers’ choice to have a union. On three separate occasions, Aguirre was pulled into closed-door meetings with two or three managers at a time and was told the plant would close if he continued to organize. Aguirre testified against two supervisors regarding the Blue Diamond organizing campaign at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A month later he received a written warning by those two supervisors. The NLRB has charged that Aguirre's discipline was in retaliation for his testimony and is prosecuting the company.

The NLRB found that the company violated worker rights. The company fired union supporters, threatened to close the plant, warned that workers would lose wages, pensions and benefits if they are unionized, interrogated workers about their union activities and disciplined workers in retaliation for their union support.

The Blue Diamond workers want the company to agree to a majority sign-up process with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. In December 2006, the Sacramento City Council passed a resolution encouraging Blue Diamond to agree to majority sign-up. Meanwhile, the company continues to intimidate and violate worker rights. Aguirre and his co-workers are in it for the long haul. They recently came up with a slogan for their fight: “Our work, our lives, our right to decide.”