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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Farmworkers supposedly fired after fleeing Camarillo Springs Fire offered their jobs back

Smoke billows over a home in the Hidden Valley region of Ventura County during the Springs Fire on May 3rd, 2013.
Smoke billows over a home in the Hidden Valley region of Ventura County during the Springs Fire on May 3rd, 2013.
(
Mae Ryan/KPCC
)

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Farmworkers who fled a Ventura County strawberry field because of smoke from the Camarillo Springs Fire have been told they can return and that their presumed firing was a misunderstanding, the Associated Press reported.

About 15 workers concerned about smoke inhalation from the Springs Fire left the harvest at Crisalida Berry Farms in Oxnard on May 2 as smoke and ash blew onto the field.

RELATED: Camarillo Springs Fire near containment; 28,000 acres burned

Some of the workers later told the local United Farm Workers office they'd been told they were fired and couldn't return. They also complained they weren't paid.

KEYT-TV says the union and the farm issued a joint statement Wednesday calling it a misunderstanding.

A union official tells the Ventura County Star (behind a paywall) that the workers have been offered back pay and jobs, but only one woman has indicated she'll return.

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