> Workers say factory threw them off job site
>
> By Kevin Spear
> of The Sentinel Staff
>
> Published in The Orlando Sentinel on June 24, 2000
>
> MOUNT DORA -- An area labor advocate and several workers were
> given warning tickets for trespassing Friday after they tried to confront
> the manager of a packaging factory about a wage dispute.
>
> Tirso Moreno, general coordinator for the Farmworker Association of
> Florida, and five former employees at R&D Sleeves Inc. were ticketed
> by Mount Dora police.
>
> The five workers, all from Mexico and living in Zellwood, said the
> plant`s workforce of about 35 employees went on strike earlier this year.
>
> The strike succeeded in winning a higher pay rate. But when workers
> got their checks last week, they were paid at the previous rate, they said.
>
> After complaining, they said, they were fired.
>
> The workers said they had wanted to meet with the plant manager to talk
> about their jobs and the pay rate, and to tell other workers about the
> change in pay.
>
> The manager of the plant, who identified himself only as Randy, would
> not elaborate on the dispute.
>
> "It`s a personal matter between me and some ex-employees, and that`s
> all I can say."
>
> R&D Sleeves, off U.S. Highway 441 just north of Orange County,
> produces handmade shipping wrappers for flowers and nursery plants.
>
> Moreno said the former laborers may try to meet with the plant owner
> but don`t expect to regain their jobs.
>
> "They said they know they can`t go back to work there, but they don`t
> want this to keep happening to other workers," Moreno said.