California-based Wonderful Nurseries and United Farm Workers have been fighting to prove their side in a major legal battle over farmworkers union certifications. Their contention came to a head earlier this month when a Kern County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Wonderful.
Wonderful Nurseries, part of The Wonderful Co., claims that the UFW used the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Food Worker Relief Grant to entice Wonderful employees to sign union cards. The company contends that the signup process happened during union meetings that were only advertised to help farm workers apply for the grant. Wonderful also claims that the workers were signing those union cards without a proper understanding of what they were signing up for.
The legal issue traces back to Assembly Bill 2183, which was signed into law in fall 2022, altering how employees opt into farm workers unions. Instead of the conventional, secret ballot elections to vote for unionization in the workplace, employees are given the opportunity to submit representation cards (coined as “union cards”). There must be the required amount of union cards collected in favor of a union before the labor organization wishing to represent the employees can unionize with them.
Once officially certified, the labor organization approved by the employees has permission to be the employees’ bargaining representative.
UFW sees this bill as an expansion to farmer workers rights by allowing them to choose if they want to vote at a physical location, vote by mailing, or dropping off a representation ballot card to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) office.
In this instance, UFW submitted the union cards and ALRB processed them without ALRB investigating the allegations of misconduct that UFW was being accused of. The process was appealed by Wonderful in a $6 billion lawsuit against ALRB.
As the lawsuit moves forward throughout this next year, the certification for UFW as a representative for Wonderful employees was discontinued.
The latest ruling, which was handed out July 18, showed that Wonderful was being forced to follow through with a process that was likely unconstitutional and that the company had “credibly” argued the union had made an error in this process; but the position of the judge was not fully accusatory of UFW for fraudulent activity or intentional trickery.
“Farmworkers had been wrongly barred from objecting to a union being forced on them,” said Rob Yraceburu, president of Wonderful Nurseries in a statement after the ruling. “This ruling states that Wonderful indeed has standing to fight to ensure those constitutional rights of farmworkers, including due process and the First Amendment rights, are not violated.”
Late May, California Attorney General Rob Bonta urged the Kern County judge to deny Wonderful’s request for an injunction.
“Wonderful has failed to demonstrate that the card-check law was causing irreparable harm or likelihood of depreciation of its rights,” Bonta said.
UFW also strongly disagrees with Wonderful’s claims of fraudulence.
“This is a shocking ruling,” said UFW President Teresa Romero, “and at this time the ALRB can no longer enforce the union certification or continue hearings on this matter.”
The farmworkers union plans to appeal the court decision, however, the union may gave dampened their supporters’ hopes, transparently sharing in a statement that this will take some time to begin and execute this process.
UFW sees this as strong defiance on Wonderful’s part, arguing that they aren’t on the side of their “wrongfully misled” employees, and that this is Wonderful’s way of silencing their employees’ voices and concerns.
“It’s very clear Wonderful is determined to use its considerable resources to deny farmworkers their rights.” Romero continued. “This is a heavy blow, but these workers are courageous and determined to seek what they deserve: dignity at work and a fair union contract.”
ALRB had its go at Wonderful months before this lawsuit against them when ALRB General Counsel Julia Montgomery issued a complaint against the company, alleging that Wonderful was helping workers draft declarations to revoke their union cards. It wasn’t certain if Wonderful had forced their employees to draft these declarations or if the workers voluntarily sought this guidance.
It has also been rumored that Wonderful has paid and coerced their employees to protest against UFW, chanting and spiritedly protesting against the farmworkers union for allegedly tricking them. When asked by local news stations whether they had been paid to protest during the hearing against the UFW in Wonderful’s favor, employees vehemently denied the accusations.
“No pay, no pay, nothing. It’s on our own,” Jose Manuel Sanches Navarro told KGET 17 Bakersfield.
There is still no clear tell of which group is on the right. Both sides have farmworkers supporting their chosen sides’ claim. Really, it’s hard to not wonder when this became a divisive battle between two large entities instead of centering ourselves around what truly matters here: the workers. Where are the solutions to some of their everyday struggles?
Both sides say they are fighting for the farmworkers, but for the past couple of months, they have only been stifling progress for the farmworkers.
When the battle seizes, and let’s hypothetically say Wonderful does win the lawsuit, then what? Will the company be held accountable to better working standards, dignity, and support to their workers? Or say the lawsuit doesn’t work out, and ALRB can certify UFW as a representative for Wonderful employees, what will UFW do to mend the relationship with leadership in order to have meaningful conversation that gets every employee what they deserve?
There needs to be a positive path forward, for justice to be served for all those feeling underserved by each entity. Our future lies on the parties at play, and for now, it is UFW’s serve.
Bre Holbert is a past National FFA President and studied agriculture science and education at California State-Chico. “Two ears to listen is better than one mouth to speak. Two ears allow us to affirm more people, rather than letting our mouth loose to damage people’s story by speaking on behalf of others.”