After more than a month of deliberations, a Kern County Superior Court judge sided with Wonderful Co. and issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts the contentious bargaining process between the agricultural giant and the state’s largest farmworker union. .
In a ruling issued Thursday, Judge Bernard C. Barmann said Wonderful “is likely to prevail” in a legal challenge to the state’s relatively new system of farmworker organizing. , Wonderful will face irreparable harm if the United Farm Workers union is allowed to reach a bargaining agreement on farmworker organizing.
“Given the constitutional rights involved in this matter, the Court finds that the public interest supports preliminary injunctive relief,” Barman wrote in the 21-page ruling. Wonderful “has discharged its duty to issue a preliminary injunction until the matter is resolved.” Full trial.”
In a twist, the $6 billion agricultural giant owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick sued the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board in May, challenging the state’s alleged card Check the constitutionality of the system signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. Instead of notifying the employer, a secret ballot is held at a designated polling place.
Union organizers had pushed for changes to card check laws, arguing that the secret ballot process left workers fearful of employer retaliation.
But Wonderful, which owns well-known brands such as FIJI Water and POM Wonderful, claimed in the lawsuit that the law deprives employers of due process in multiple ways. Among them: forcing the company to sign a collective bargaining agreement even though it had formally appealed the ALRB’s certification of the union vote and presented evidence it believed the voting process was fraudulent.
The temporary injunction marks the latest twist in a bitter dispute over the UFW’s union campaign at Wasco Wonderful Nurseries, the nation’s largest grape nursery.
In late February, the UFW filed a petition with the Labor Relations Board, claiming that most of the nursery’s more than 600 farmworkers signed authorization cards and asking that the UFW be certified as its union representative.
Within days, Wonderful accused the UFW of luring farm workers into signing authorization cards under the guise of helping them apply for $600 in federal relief for farm workers working during the pandemic. The company also submitted nearly 150 statements signed by nursery workers saying they did not understand signing the cards and that they were voting to unionize.
The UFW countered that Wonderful intimidated workers into making false statements and hired a labor consultant with a reputation as a union buster to manipulate their emotions over the coming weeks.
The ALRB acknowledged receiving Wonderful’s workers’ declaration; nevertheless, three days later, the labor board’s regional director proactively approved the union’s petition. She told a subsequent hearing that she felt she had to act quickly according to the timetable set out in the Card Check Act, and that at the time she believed the statute did not authorize her to investigate allegations of misconduct.
Wonderful appealed the ALRB’s certification.
While Wonderful’s appeal of certification moves through the ALRB’s administrative hearing process under the card check law, UFW’s efforts to bargain with the company on behalf of its day care workers will continue. The ALRB issued a ruling last week ordering Wonderful to enter into mandatory mediation proceedings with the union to reach a collective bargaining agreement.
Wonderful challenged the constitutionality of the card check system on multiple fronts in a lawsuit filed in May. Among them: The company’s due process rights were violated when the labor board granted the UFW’s petition before investigating the company’s claims of voting fraud; and more broadly, the card check system did not have adequate safeguards to ensure the accuracy of the voting process. sex.
The company is asking a judge to halt union efforts at its day care centers and the ALRB’s administrative hearing proceedings on the company’s appeal while the lawsuit continues in Kern County Court.
Wonderful Nurseries president Rob Yraceburu said in a statement released late Thursday that the company was “pleased” with the court’s decision to halt the certification process until the constitutionality of the card check law has been “fully and properly considered.”
“Moreover,” Yraceburu said, “farm workers are wrongly prohibited from opposing unions imposed on them, and this ruling demonstrates that Wonderful is indeed qualified to fight to ensure farm workers’ constitutional rights, including their due process and first rights.” .
UFW spokesperson Elizabeth Strater countered that the ruling “ignores 89 years of labor law precedent” and said it would appeal the decision to grant a preliminary injunction.
“There is already a process in place to deal with electoral misconduct, and Wonderful is in the middle of that process. Why would Wonderful want to stop that process and silence workers so their voices are not heard? Strutt said, “It’s clear that Wonderful is determined to use its considerable resources to disenfranchise farmworkers. “
In a May 30 filing, the state urged the court to deny Wonderful’s request for an injunction. California Attorney. Gen. Rob Bonta, speaking on behalf of the ALRB, said Wonderful failed to prove that the card check law was causing “irreparable harm or any possibility of depriving them of their rights.” Bonta also argued that the high court lacked jurisdiction over the case.
ALRB Executive Secretary Santiago Avila-Gomez said late Thursday that the agency was “carefully reviewing the ruling and will have no further comment at this time.”
Meanwhile, the UFW is taking legal action against Wonderful. The union has filed a formal unfair labor practice complaint with the ALRB, accusing Wonderful of forcing employees to attend “exclusive audience” meetings to urge employees to reject UFW representation. ALRB General Counsel Julia Montgomery issued a complaint similar to the indictment in April, accusing Wonderful of engaging in unfair labor practices by illegally assisting them in drafting statements to revoke authorization cards.
The company has largely denied the accusations.
This article is part of The Times Equity Reporting Initiative, Funded by James Irving Foundationexplores the challenges faced by low-income workers and efforts to address them California’s economic divide.
