The State - News from July 10, 1987

The U.S. Department of Labor announced that it has barred Bruce Church Inc., a major Salinas lettuce grower, from receiving any more federal contracts because the firm failed to have an affirmative-action plan for hiring minorities, women and others. Church, which held a blanket purchase agreement with the Defense Department, will have that contract canceled and will not be eligible for any future contracts or extensions of existing contracts until it complies with three federal laws. The statutes prohibit discrimination against minority group members, women, the handicapped and Vietnam-era and disabled veterans by firms having federal contracts of at least $50,000. A Labor Department spokesman said that Church had lettuce business with the military worth as much as $800,000 in 1984, the last year for which figures were available. Church asserted to the Labor Department that it was not required to have an affirmative-action plan.