BERRY PICKERS DEAL BLOW TO UNION LEADERS; LABORERS REJECT REPRESENTATION BY UFW.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

The once-powerful United Farm Workers union was struggling to recover Thursday from a tremendous setback in California's strawberry fields on a vote it hoped would rejuvenate the labor union.

About 1,300 pickers working for Coastal Berry, the nation's largest strawberry grower, voted Tuesday and Wednesday, favoring an upstart group with ties to anti-union growers that has never negotiated a contract. An estimated 650 pickers from Oxnard were eligible to vote.

State labor officials have yet to finalize the 646-577 vote. About 60 ballots are in dispute, and an additional 79 workers voted for a third option of no union, meaning that neither the UFW nor the Coastal Berry of California Farm Worker Committee has obtained the majority support necessary for victory.

The UFW cannot win, said the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, though it still could force a runoff if the Farm Worker Committee does not receive enough of the remaining votes.

Freddie Capuyan, the labor board's regional director in Salinas, will attempt to issue a report on the challenged ballots by tonight, but labor board officials said he might need an extension into next week.

UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said he was saddened by the loss to the in-house union. He blamed interference by anti-union growers who feared a victory at Coastal Berry might spread to other berry fields.

``Their organization has nothing to offer, while we have demonstrated and proven results,'' he said. ``Clearly there was intimidation and coercion here, and we're going to continue our fight.''

The results were considered pivotal in the UFW's effort to recover from the years of decline that came even before the 1993 death of its legendary founder, Cesar Chavez.

Under Chavez, 80,000 farm workers were working under UFW contracts by 1970. Union membership had dwindled to 20,000 at the time of his death.

In 1995, the UFW tried to kindle a resurgence in the state's $600 million, 20,000-worker strawberry industry.

But outside observers said the UFW made mistakes, including replacing about 10 local organizers with out-of-town professionals, and underestimating the tight relationship pickers had with growers.

``There were tremendous accusations when the UFW started organizing here that they were acting like bullies and they were telling these fiercely independent people that they should turn to them for support and give them part of their paycheck,'' said John Borrego, associate professor of community studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who follows the agricultural labor movement. ``This generation of workers hasn't even heard of Cesar Chavez. They don't bring with them a history that unions are wonderful things.''

Coastal Berry Co. President Ernie Farley, who has repeatedly asserted his neutrality, said his company will ``abide by whatever representing body the state labor board certifies.''

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO (Ran in Business only) Strawberry workers and their supporters rally at the local United Farm Workers office while waiting for results Thursday of their vote.

Monica Almeida/The New York Times