WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:09.119 In July of twenty twenty four months before the presidential election, 2 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:14.280 Robert Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, gave a speech 3 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:15.280 at the White House. 4 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.200 Good afternoon, it's a president. 5 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.320 Good after and everyone, it's such an honor and such 6 00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:24.799 a blessing to be here in the greatest country in 7 00:00:24.840 --> 00:00:25.280 the world. 8 00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:30.160 He talked about Goya's mission and growth through the years, 9 00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:33.800 from being a small bodega in New York City's Lower 10 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.800 East Side to now a billion dollar corporation, and then 11 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.479 Unanue changed the script. 12 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:44.840 We're all truly blessed at the same time to have 13 00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:48.960 a leader like President Trump, who is a builder. We 14 00:00:49.080 --> 00:00:53.199 pray for our leadership, our president, and we pray for 15 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.280 our country. 16 00:00:57.760 --> 00:01:01.720 And at that moment, Robert Noiz support for Donald Trump 17 00:01:02.120 --> 00:01:05.800 put his company, Goya and its products at the center 18 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:10.039 of a brief but pretty intense political controversy. You might 19 00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:13.520 remember the viral photo of Ivanka Trump where she's holding 20 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.600 a can of Goya beans. At the same time, opposing 21 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.280 hashtags like Goya away were trending online and there were 22 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:24.080 calls for a boycott of all the company's products, especially 23 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:28.840 among Latinos and Latinas. Latino leaders like Representative Alexandria Acacio 24 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:33.039 Cortez and playwright lin Manuel Miranda advocated for people to 25 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.560 reconsider purchasing Goya Foods. 26 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.199 Do not expect a community that feels victimized by Donald 27 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:43.280 Trump and attacked by Donald Trump constantly, and that is 28 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.520 your loyal consumer base not to react and feel hurt 29 00:01:47.080 --> 00:01:49.440 when they see you praising that person. 30 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:54.640 But Goya also had its advocates like Ivanka Trump. Many 31 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:58.000 threw their support behind the company, dismissing the boycott. 32 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:00.000 Cancel culture strikes again. 33 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:04.720 Goya Food CEO is refusing to apologize in the face 34 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.320 of a liberal boycott of his food company. 35 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 This country is too fat to boycott a food company. 36 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.640 This is a top ten dinner item for most family. 37 00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:17.839 And some of the loudest critics of the boycott were 38 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.360 Goya's main distributors, but Deega owners, many of whom are 39 00:02:21.440 --> 00:02:23.200 Latinos and Latinas as well. 40 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.840 Goya Foods will remain on our shelves and our community 41 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:29.080 will continue. 42 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:31.399 To buy Goya products. 43 00:02:31.880 --> 00:02:39.040 Goya is in our community, bas Symphony, It's today. 44 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.960 Well, it turns out this was not the first time 45 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:45.840 that Goya, the giant food company, had found itself in 46 00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:49.640 the middle of a controversy, and just like before, it 47 00:02:49.760 --> 00:02:55.120 was about much more than just a can of beans 48 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:02.040 from Futuro Media. It's Latino USA, Marie Jojosa and today 49 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:16.440 Goya in three boycotts. Goya is a giant in the 50 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:20.160 United States food industry. Today, the company is worth over 51 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:24.520 one billion dollars and employees over four thousand people in 52 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:28.959 dozens of factories throughout the country and abroad. It's also 53 00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:32.960 a staple in Latino homes across the US. The Latino 54 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.640 community is a huge part of Goya's consumer base. After 55 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:43.240 Goya Food CEO Robert Unanuez spoke in the White House 56 00:03:43.320 --> 00:03:47.600 Rose Garden last summer, producer Gabriel Berebe realized she had 57 00:03:47.640 --> 00:03:50.280 a lot of questions about the brand. Receiving all of 58 00:03:50.320 --> 00:03:55.480 this attention, Gabriel started digging into Goya itself, the family 59 00:03:55.640 --> 00:03:59.400 behind the brand, and some of the past controversies that 60 00:03:59.440 --> 00:04:04.600 the company his weathered. Through Gabriel's reporting, she discovered a 61 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:08.920 common theme repeating itself over the years, something bigger than 62 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:14.200 any single news headline. Goya is more than pantry, staples 63 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:19.719 and spices to its customers. Specifically, it's Latino customers. For 64 00:04:19.880 --> 00:04:24.400 many Latinos and Latinas, Goya is like a badge of identity. 65 00:04:26.880 --> 00:04:30.359 So that's a pretty tall order for a company. Hey, Gabriel, 66 00:04:30.440 --> 00:04:31.239 welcome to the show. 67 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:32.159 Hi Maria. 68 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:35.640 So Gabriel, tell us what happened that you were like, hmm, 69 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:38.279 I need to spend some more time thinking about Goya 70 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.440 food products and that this led you down a kind 71 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:42.120 of rabbit hole. 72 00:04:42.520 --> 00:04:45.680 So, Maria, before the boycott, I had no idea who 73 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:48.919 the unan my family was. I grew up with Goya beans, 74 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:51.839 but didn't know or never really thought about how this 75 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:55.040 company became a symbol of Latino identity in the US. 76 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:58.360 Clearly it wasn't about how much people love their beans 77 00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:01.599 or Adobo. It was something much deeper than that. Goya 78 00:05:01.760 --> 00:05:06.320 evokes emotions for many Latinos, and in researching Goya, I 79 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:10.679 found three separate boycotts spanning decades, where Goya's carefully crafted 80 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.159 image as a symbol of Latino identity was thrown into question, 81 00:05:15.400 --> 00:05:17.800 one in Miami, one in New York and Puerto Rico, 82 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:21.680 and the other one from the summer. And together they 83 00:05:21.880 --> 00:05:24.880 helped tell a not so rosy story about this powerful company. 84 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:29.040 But before I jump in It's important to understand the 85 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.080 history of the brand and how the Unanui family used 86 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:34.640 their immigrant background to craft their business image. 87 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.279 Okay, so we know that Goya was founded in the 88 00:05:37.320 --> 00:05:41.680 nineteen thirties by then Prudencio Unanui and his wife Carolina. 89 00:05:42.200 --> 00:05:46.719 And Don Prudencio was actually a merchant from Spain right. 90 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.400 He arrived in Puerto Rico from Spain in nineteen oh two, 91 00:05:49.880 --> 00:05:52.400 then moved to the United States and started a small 92 00:05:52.400 --> 00:05:56.240 business in New York City importing goods from Spain. That 93 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:01.719 business eventually became Goya Foods. Robert Unanui, Goya's current CEO, 94 00:06:02.320 --> 00:06:04.200 often tells his grandfather's story. 95 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.720 He misstaste from home and he had an idea that 96 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:10.320 other immigrants also miss taste from home. 97 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:15.360 Don Prudencio started importing goods like olive oil and other 98 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:18.000 canfish products to his shop on the Lower East Side, 99 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.000 serving the Spanish immigrant community. 100 00:06:20.760 --> 00:06:26.400 But Goya then ends up being really a Latino brand 101 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.680 for the entire population. I mean, it grows and this 102 00:06:30.760 --> 00:06:34.320 is you know their primary customers are Latinos and Latinas. 103 00:06:35.080 --> 00:06:38.080 So tell us the story of how Don Purudencio becomes 104 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.520 so successful in expanding this business. 105 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:45.440 Well after World War Two, US factory owners took advantage 106 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.400 of the depression in Puerto Rico to outsourced cheap labor 107 00:06:48.440 --> 00:06:51.039 from the island and in Espana. Just one year, the 108 00:06:51.080 --> 00:06:54.880 Puerto Rican population in New York City nearly quadrupled from 109 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.200 thirteen thousand to over fifty thousand people. I spoke with 110 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:03.400 Puerto Rican food historian Professor Cruz Miguel Artist Quadra about 111 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.880 how you nonally capitalized on this migration wave to grow 112 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:07.760 his business. 113 00:07:08.200 --> 00:07:12.119 The political and economical transform mentioned that occurring Puerto Rico 114 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:16.680 in the nineteen forties opened a huge, big door to Nan. 115 00:07:17.400 --> 00:07:21.080 The success of Goya Foods and it's entanglement with Puerto 116 00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:24.440 Rican food habits and colinary traditions. 117 00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:25.560 Was at his door step. 118 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:30.360 And make no mistake, and Megrant himself, and I know 119 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:34.400 that this big first migration would travel with its food memories. 120 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:40.280 Wow, food memories. I mean that's a great concept, right, 121 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:44.480 This notion of you know, eating rice and beans as 122 00:07:44.520 --> 00:07:49.720 a kid, or tortillas or you know, making fresh tamalis 123 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:51.640 over the holidays with your family. I mean, there is 124 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:54.880 this this thing food memories, and we all have them. 125 00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:00.600 Yeah, it's this idea that food is personal or ortiz 126 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:04.240 Quadra often refers to this term food or palette memories. 127 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:08.200 He first coined the term in his book Eating Puerto Rico, 128 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.960 and he uses this concept to describe the intimate bond 129 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.840 with food formed by cultural and historical practices. So this 130 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:20.560 idea that the food we eat reflects our values, choices, 131 00:08:20.640 --> 00:08:24.559 and culture, and it's central and understanding Goya's rise. 132 00:08:27.400 --> 00:08:31.720 So more Puerto Ricans moved into New York City and 133 00:08:32.280 --> 00:08:36.600 there was the experience of racism and xenophobia that a 134 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.559 lot of outsider communities experience. Puerto Ricans are not immigrants, right, 135 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.160 because they're just moving from one part of the United 136 00:08:43.160 --> 00:08:46.320 States to another part of the United States. But as 137 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:49.600 it was in New York City, that wasn't welcoming to 138 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:54.120 many Puerto Ricans. I mean that increases the need for 139 00:08:54.160 --> 00:08:57.320 food to be a place where you find solace and 140 00:08:57.400 --> 00:08:59.440 comfort right exactly. 141 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:04.600 Food is so important it can't trace you back to 142 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:08.800 your homeland. Goya became the food link to the homeland 143 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:14.240 and to the food of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora. 144 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:17.600 Don Pruencio continue to build Goya around the city's growing 145 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.840 immigrant community, from Latin America. He knew that capitalizing on 146 00:09:21.920 --> 00:09:35.079 food memories was a powerful business strategy. His grandson Robert 147 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:36.560 talked about this in an interview. 148 00:09:37.280 --> 00:09:39.280 Now, what a lot of people feel is when an 149 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:43.200 immigrant comes into this country, they'll soon switch over to 150 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:47.960 American cuisine hot dogs and hamburgers and things like that. 151 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.079 But food is a deep tradition for most immigrants. And 152 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.400 that's what makes the brand and our cuisine so powerful 153 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:00.319 to the immigrant community is that tie to homeland and was. 154 00:10:00.280 --> 00:10:04.400 In It was basically a brand strategy that Goya embarked 155 00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:08.679 on in a very big way, and essentially it worked. 156 00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:12.160 Slowly but steadily. Goya became a staple of not just 157 00:10:12.400 --> 00:10:16.360 Puerto Rican kitchens, but Latino households all across the US. 158 00:10:16.880 --> 00:10:21.760 They are gaining lots of money, taking the advantage of 159 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:25.360 the palade and the memory palate not only of Puerto Ricans, 160 00:10:25.400 --> 00:10:29.960 but also of Caribbean and Central American migrations to the USA. 161 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.960 By nineteen eighty, Goya had over one thousand employees and 162 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:40.680 expanded their operations across the country. And this is where 163 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:43.760 my research took a turn into the crazy world of 164 00:10:43.800 --> 00:10:49.840 Goya Archives. Yes, in this growth in the seventies and eighties, 165 00:10:49.920 --> 00:10:56.000 Goya began producing these television advertisements. They even had their 166 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:04.440 own show, eld Super Show Goya l Superja, cooking shows 167 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.160 with big names like Celia Cruz. 168 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:12.280 Then I actually remember seeing that commercial and remember Celiac 169 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.760 Gruz doing that little dance as she's like, I got 170 00:11:14.760 --> 00:11:16.480 this sat see. 171 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.240 I know that ad was pretty catchy. Goya started to 172 00:11:23.280 --> 00:11:27.040 build a really compelling narrative of their business empire. They 173 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.680 created a brand off of the idea of being part 174 00:11:29.760 --> 00:11:33.559 of the American dream for Latinos, in particular, in the 175 00:11:33.640 --> 00:11:37.600 nineteen eighties, immigration from Latin America soared even more, and 176 00:11:37.640 --> 00:11:42.000 Goya's growth followed. They started selling impanadas for the Colombian 177 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.200 community in New York and Miami, and refried beans and 178 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:47.520 salsa for the Mexican community in Texas and on the 179 00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:51.720 West Coast. The business, its workers, and its consumers became 180 00:11:51.800 --> 00:11:55.760 known as La grand Familia Goya, the Grand Goya family. 181 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.520 Okay, so where did the Boycotts begin to fit in 182 00:12:04.520 --> 00:12:05.920 in this story? 183 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:10.480 Well, Maria, this claim to family status, it came at 184 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:14.920 a cost. In nineteen ninety eight, the image of the 185 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.640 happy family of La Grande Familia Goya was thrown into question, 186 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.079 and for the first time in the public spotlight, Goya 187 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.360 was caught up in an ugly dispute with its employees. 188 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.880 They were mostly Latino immigrants working in Goya's regional Florida 189 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:34.880 factory in Miami, and they were trying to unionize to 190 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:40.319 improve working conditions. This dispute raised the question what did 191 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.079 it mean to be part of the Grand Goya family. 192 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:48.280 The level of arrogance of this family, It was almost 193 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:52.160 like they were running a plantation and these were the 194 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:54.840 indentured servants on the plantation. 195 00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:05.559 Coming up on Latino USA, Goya faces its first public boycott. 196 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:53.320 Stay with us, Hey, We're back and when we left off. 197 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.280 A group of immigrant workers at Goya's factory in Miami 198 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:04.000 challenged Goya's carefully craft narrative of lagran Familia Goya, which 199 00:14:04.040 --> 00:14:08.439 means the grand Goya family, and Gabriel is going to 200 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:09.800 pick up this story from here. 201 00:14:10.880 --> 00:14:13.720 Goya's factory in Miami Dade County was a pillar for 202 00:14:13.760 --> 00:14:17.160 the food company. It supplied Goya products to the major 203 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.400 grocery stores throughout the state of Florida. On the wall 204 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.800 of the large Miami warehouse, there was a painting that 205 00:14:22.880 --> 00:14:27.840 read La grand Familia Goya juntos oi yenel nuevo Millennio 206 00:14:28.400 --> 00:14:32.080 The Grand Goya Family together now and in the New Millennium. 207 00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:37.360 It was painted in Goya's large signature blue lettering. Ridolfo Chavez, 208 00:14:37.520 --> 00:14:40.720 a truck driver who worked for Goya for nearly a decade, 209 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:44.480 was part of this family, or at least he thought 210 00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:45.000 he was. 211 00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:49.760 My name of Rodolpho Chaves hem Orno for Nicaraua. I 212 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.560 left Nicaraua in nineteen eighty four. 213 00:14:51.880 --> 00:14:55.560 Rodolpho came to the United States when he was seventeen. Maria, 214 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:59.240 his high school sweetheart from Nicaragua, eventually joined him in 215 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:05.440 California and they got married. After five years, Ridolfo, his wife, 216 00:15:05.560 --> 00:15:09.160 and their baby daughter drove from Los Angeles to Miami 217 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:11.080 in search of better job opportunities. 218 00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:18.000 We were starting to go through the America dream and 219 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:19.600 we was working as a handyman. 220 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:22.000 Whatever we can do, we do it. 221 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:25.760 But Lady Anna, a friend of us, got me a 222 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.200 job in Goya for to Florida. 223 00:15:27.880 --> 00:15:30.880 Rodolpho started working as a truck driver for Goya, delivering 224 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.080 goods throughout most of South Florida. 225 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.480 The truck was very old trucks going four o'clock in 226 00:15:38.520 --> 00:15:42.480 the morning from Miami to Naples, and. 227 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.600 Even though he was in Florida, Ridolfo remembers how chilly 228 00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:48.160 some of those early mornings were. 229 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:52.400 That truck didn't have no hitter, That wind got through 230 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:55.640 even you close the window, but you can feel the 231 00:15:55.760 --> 00:15:56.920 bridge from outside. 232 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:01.680 And during those first few years, I've enjoyed working at Goya. 233 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.960 They make us feel like a family, like they said, 234 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.640 that big family Goya, and it was nice at the beginning, 235 00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:11.920 it was very nice. 236 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.200 Ridolpho liked his coworkers and had a good relationship with 237 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.360 his boss. Most of the people he worked with were 238 00:16:18.400 --> 00:16:22.480 also immigrants, mainly from Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and 239 00:16:22.520 --> 00:16:25.960 they were mostly Latino men. He said he felt supported 240 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.560 by everyone at the plant and said he felt grateful 241 00:16:28.560 --> 00:16:33.560 for this job. But then the company appointed Mary Ann Unaway, 242 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:38.280 the third generation of Unanways to run Goya, to head 243 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.240 the Florida operations. 244 00:16:40.640 --> 00:16:43.880 She came and she have a new point of view 245 00:16:43.880 --> 00:16:48.760 of business and she started doing a lot of changes. 246 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:53.200 Those changes included cutting back on worker pensions and benefits, 247 00:16:53.760 --> 00:16:59.360 shortening their vacation times, eliminating overtime, and most notably cutting 248 00:16:59.400 --> 00:17:03.920 back on operation costs, which led to this infestation of rats, 249 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.160 mice and roaches in the warehouse. 250 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:08.800 And there was mice all over. 251 00:17:09.080 --> 00:17:11.360 We deal as a truck driver because when they pulled 252 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:16.280 a piallet inside, something jumping from the palt something jump 253 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:16.600 on you. 254 00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:20.000 And that's what you guys care. They jump into to you. 255 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.440 So we deal with that and we told the company 256 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.080 about it, but they didn't caret Ceta. 257 00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:32.679 This rat infestation was only one problem on top of 258 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:38.200 many that Goya's workers began facing. Their hours became longer, 259 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:41.840 their time off was cut short, while their paychecks were cut, 260 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.639 and every time they tried to speak up about it, 261 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:49.280 they experienced pushback from Goiaz management. Fed Up with the 262 00:17:49.320 --> 00:17:54.120 declining working conditions, Goya's workers started a campaign to unionize 263 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.520 in the Miami operation and fight for better working conditions, 264 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:03.000 which included better hours, our pension, retirement plans, and sanitary 265 00:18:03.040 --> 00:18:04.200 warehouse protocols. 266 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.120 So I joined the union and then we presented to 267 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:09.960 the company we were asking for about it to take place, 268 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:14.160 and that's when Goya started the very very rough campaign 269 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.000 against the union. 270 00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:19.320 At first, Goya refused to recognize the workers demands to 271 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:23.560 join the union known as Unite. So the workers took 272 00:18:23.600 --> 00:18:25.159 their demands to the public. 273 00:18:25.520 --> 00:18:28.680 And we marched with data March Rodolfo. 274 00:18:28.560 --> 00:18:30.359 Along with the other workers who were part of the 275 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:33.840 union negotiations, they held a demonstration outside of a Winn 276 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:38.159 Dixie supermarket in Miami. It's one of Goya's largest distributors 277 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.680 in the region. During the March, three Goya workers went 278 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:44.399 inside the supermarket and asked the manager to sign a 279 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:45.920 petition listing their demands. 280 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:51.399 Goya find out that the same day, of course, and 281 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:55.240 they knew who was inside, so those people they didn't. 282 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.320 Next day they came to work, they got fire. 283 00:19:00.280 --> 00:19:03.879 Goya fired three of Rodolpho's coworkers after that incident for 284 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:07.800 making a scene at the supermarket and in the Miami warehouse. 285 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.359 They became known as the wind Dixie three. But you know, 286 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:13.919 USA reached out to Goya about the incident, but the 287 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:18.000 company didn't respond. The firing of the Windixi three became 288 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.080 this cautionary tale for any of Goya's workers who tried 289 00:19:22.080 --> 00:19:24.119 to push union negotiations further. 290 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:27.800 During this time, you know, the union effort to organize 291 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:33.120 and it was getting low, low than the most city 292 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:35.280 of the work. It was very It was frustration. It 293 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:38.080 was very I mean because of all these changes, because 294 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:41.240 of the fire employee, and they fired a couple more. 295 00:19:41.280 --> 00:19:44.760 Hard to remember exactly, but I know they especially because 296 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:47.680 of the with this trio. Everything went down the rain. 297 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:51.520 But they didn't care about workers. They didn't. They only 298 00:19:51.560 --> 00:19:55.959 care about losing their power. Power to fire you whenever 299 00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:59.680 they want, power to change your benefit whenever they would 300 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:02.280 have And that's what that's what it is, you know, 301 00:20:02.520 --> 00:20:03.320 most about power. 302 00:20:03.800 --> 00:20:07.440 After his friends got fired, Ridolfo's belief in the union's 303 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:12.040 mission just got stronger. He kept wearing his Union shirt 304 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.720 visible under his Goya uniform, and eventually a little over 305 00:20:16.760 --> 00:20:20.359 a year after the wind Dixie incident, Ridolfo got a call. 306 00:20:21.040 --> 00:20:23.359 But there was a conversation disparture. The picture told me, no, 307 00:20:24.040 --> 00:20:25.639 you don't have no rap tomorrow. You had to go 308 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:28.960 and see Maric Christina, which is what the hr when 309 00:20:29.040 --> 00:20:30.560 they told me that I was fired. 310 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:32.600 I fired. 311 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:37.760 You were kind of pressure that night and talked to 312 00:20:37.800 --> 00:20:39.040 my wife and said, I don't know what's going to 313 00:20:39.080 --> 00:20:42.639 happen tomorrow, but I guess I lost my job. And 314 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:45.960 you know, it was kind of frustration. After ten years 315 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.480 almost ten years. At that day, it was like, my, 316 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.720 my word, my American dream went down the grain. Because 317 00:20:54.800 --> 00:20:57.040 you are so used to working on a play for 318 00:20:57.080 --> 00:20:59.760 so many years that you don't you don't think about 319 00:20:59.800 --> 00:21:03.119 you think about the future will be hard. 320 00:21:08.320 --> 00:21:11.119 Rodolf Was said the company told him he was fired 321 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:16.120 for being insubordinate, and Rodolfo was one of several Goya workers, 322 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:19.280 including the wend Dixie III, who Goya fired for trying 323 00:21:19.320 --> 00:21:23.600 to unionize. A battle for settlements ensued and the whole 324 00:21:23.600 --> 00:21:30.600 thing got even uglier. The negotiations lasted sixteen years, and 325 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.520 in twenty fourteen, the National Labor Relations Board finally charged 326 00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:38.000 Goya with fifteen violations of the National Labor Relations Act 327 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:42.000 and Goya had to pay over three million dollars to 328 00:21:42.040 --> 00:21:45.199 the NLRB to distribute to the employees who were wronged. 329 00:21:45.800 --> 00:21:49.000 The regional director of the union, Harris Rayner, stepped into 330 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.800 negotiations with Goya on behalf of the current and fired workers. 331 00:21:53.080 --> 00:21:56.280 They went after those long term employees not only to 332 00:21:56.280 --> 00:21:58.720 get rid of them, but to send a message to 333 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.320 all the other employees that if you stand up for 334 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.760 your rights, here's what's going to happen to you. And 335 00:22:04.840 --> 00:22:07.960 those employees were engaged in something that was later called 336 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:12.560 protected concerted activity, which is when employees act together to 337 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:16.199 achieve an end that's legal, and they act in a 338 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:21.080 legal manner and the company punishes them illegally for exercising 339 00:22:21.080 --> 00:22:21.600 their rights. 340 00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:27.919 These charges included illegally disciplining employees by withholding wage increases 341 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:33.120 and taking away benefits, ignoring worker complaints about unsanitary working conditions, 342 00:22:33.520 --> 00:22:38.280 taking away pension and benefit plans. But when Rayner stepped 343 00:22:38.320 --> 00:22:40.879 in to bring Goya to the bargaining table with the union, 344 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:43.159 Goya wouldn't budge. 345 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:48.280 They clearly felt like these employees had no right to 346 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:52.119 ask for anything, to organize to have a union. I mean, 347 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.919 I've never seen such dictatorship, the level of arrogance of 348 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:00.800 this family. It was almost like they were running a 349 00:23:00.840 --> 00:23:06.000 plantation and these were the indentured servants on the plantation. 350 00:23:06.520 --> 00:23:09.480 Reiner also brought up another point that highlighted the further 351 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:13.160 hypocrisy of Goya's mistreatment of its workers in the factory. 352 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:18.600 And then they felt like that because they were Spanish 353 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:22.119 speaking and most of the employees were from Latin countries, 354 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:25.560 that they could just talk to them separately and try 355 00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:28.840 to flim flam them and lie to them and manipulate 356 00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:32.560 them in any way that they could. It's an incredible 357 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:36.480 story of arrogance and social class. 358 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:40.280 After the union made complaints to the National Labor Relations Board, 359 00:23:40.600 --> 00:23:44.480 Reiner cited cases where the Unanois themselves lied to the 360 00:23:44.560 --> 00:23:49.240 terminated employees. The unanoways told the fired employees that the 361 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.680 union had lost the case and the judge decided against them. 362 00:23:53.280 --> 00:23:56.680 They did this to convince these former employees to sign 363 00:23:56.760 --> 00:24:01.080 settlement agreements, which then allowed Goya to private settle disputes 364 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.600 on their own terms, rather than giving workers a fair 365 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:10.520 chance of representation. Efforts to negotiate a union contract with 366 00:24:10.560 --> 00:24:14.080 Goya lasted years and eventually petered out. It's a common 367 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:18.160 tactic to squash unionizing efforts, draw out the negotiation process 368 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:20.680 long enough for support for the union to die out, 369 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:24.600 and that's exactly what happened. The efforts to negotiate a 370 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:28.240 union contract did die out after a sixteen year deadlock. 371 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.440 Goya never agreed to union contract in the Miami plant, 372 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:36.760 and Rudolfo never got his job back. In fact, most 373 00:24:36.760 --> 00:24:39.360 of the workers who were fired during that period had 374 00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:43.160 their benefit and retirement plans taken away and never received 375 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:44.199 settlements from Goya. 376 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.480 They don't care about customer, they don't care about workers. 377 00:24:48.840 --> 00:24:50.399 They just care about making a profit. 378 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:54.280 There's only a few families that lived through the agony 379 00:24:54.359 --> 00:25:03.240 of Goya to the family Goya. 380 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:09.040 After the Miami protests, the Goya brand remained mostly out 381 00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:12.919 of a critical spotlight. The boycott and labor disputes hadn't 382 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:18.240 amounted to damaging the company's reputation, and Goya continued expanding 383 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:21.000 their brand rapidly in the US throughout the two thousands. 384 00:25:21.760 --> 00:25:26.600 But over a decade later, in twenty seventeen, Goya once 385 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:32.639 again found itself entangled in another controversy. This time it 386 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:38.600 was with the Puerto Rican community in New York. The 387 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:40.800 Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City is one 388 00:25:40.800 --> 00:25:47.480 of the city's largest parades. Every June, thirty five blocks 389 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:52.800 in Manhattan are closed and flooded with Puerto Rican music, dancing, 390 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.600 and floats. The parade is sponsored by big corporations like 391 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.639 Coca Cola, Google, Jet Blue, and Goya had been a 392 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:05.320 sponsor since the inaugural parade in nineteen fifty eight. They 393 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:08.080 even had their own Goya float and dancers in the 394 00:26:08.119 --> 00:26:12.000 lineup every year, but that all changed in twenty seventeen 395 00:26:12.600 --> 00:26:16.600 because of a controversy over a man named Oscar Lopez Rivera. 396 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.880 Organizers of New York's Puerto Rican Day Parade are being 397 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:25.359 criticized for honoring a convicted terrorist, Oscar Lopez Rivera, who 398 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.359 was recently pardoned by President Obama. Sponsors of the parade, 399 00:26:29.520 --> 00:26:33.520 pulling out at and T, Coca Cola, Jet Blue, Goya, 400 00:26:33.600 --> 00:26:36.680 and even the Yankees have all removed their support. 401 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:40.399