WASCO, Calif. (KERO) — The suit filed on behalf of 20 Kern County farmworkers aims to challenge part of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act that made them eligible for unionization.
- The lawsuit argues that the ALRB's certification of UFW as the exclusive representative violates their due process rights.
- The legal director of the National Right to Work Foundation claims California's system has the ability to force employees into unions without consent.
- Resolution of these legal challenges may take a significant amount of time, potentially extending throughout the year.
For your convenience, the skimmable summary above is generated with the assistance of AI and fact checked by our team prior to publication. Read the full story as originally reported below.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A new chapter in the saga of the wonderful nurseries employees who claim they were defrauded into joining a union, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter, now a lawsuit at the federal level is challenging the rules in place that made the employees eligible to be in a union in the first place.
Over the last year, three suits have been filed regarding this, one by wonderful nurseries with the ALRB challenging the card check certification, the second at the state level by wonderful nurseries and 20 employees challenging the card check certification process, and now lastly and most recently at the federal level challenging a portion of the agricultural labor relations act that was signed into law in 2022 that lawyers for the 20 employees say forces the employees into the union with or without their consent. That according to Bill Messenger, legal director with the National Right to Work Foundation.
"What California has done is set up this scheme where, instead of letting the parties bargain in good faith and come to an agreement or not, this state appointed arbitrator will impose an agreement whether the employees you know support it or not. So it's a challenge to this process," said Bill Messenger.
A spokesperson with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board said they do not comment on pending litigation.
According to Messenger, there really isn't a timetable for any of this to be resolved, as of right now, Messenger says he expects these issues to be in court at least the remainder of this year, maybe even longer. Just outside of Wasco, SH, YNR.
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