California farmworker union bill is on the verge of being available for use. What will it do?
California’s farmworkers are likely days away from being able to use a law that will make it easier for them to vote in union elections.
The measure, backed by the United Farm Workers, is pending the expected approval from Gov. Gavin Newsom. This new law would clarify the language of AB 2183, signed by Newsom in September with contingencies. And it culminates a years-long battle by UFW to expand unionization rights for farm workers.
The new bill comes after months of the governor and UFW maintaining, without specifics, that their prior agreement would be honored.
Last September, after national pressure, Newsom signed AB 2183 with the caveat that new legislation would be passed in the upcoming year to address “concerns around implementation and voting integrity.” The supplemental agreement was accepted by the governor’s administration, the UFW and the California Labor Federation.
But no new bill with the agreed-upon changes had been filed, until last Friday. That’s when AB and SB 113, budget trailer bills, appeared with the clarifying language.
Unlike the traditional legislation process, budget trailer bills follow a more lax set of rules. They can occur at any time in the legislative session, do not go through policy committees and take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. The bill was approved by Legislature on Thursday.
The legislation, and now the process of how it will be approved, has faced staunch opposition from the agricultural industry and grower associations. They say the agricultural industry was “excluded” from negotiations from the beginning.
“They’re going to do this major change in law, not through the normal policy process, and the result is that at least one set of major stakeholders are never going to have an opportunity to express concern,” said David Little, director of labor affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation.
Much of agricultural industry has opposed the UFW-backed bill, saying such a change would make it easy to commit voter fraud and forced unionization for employees.
UFW, on the other hand, believes the bill can have important implications on the industry by empowering workers who are often underpaid, concerned about their immigration status and intimidated at the workplace.
Antonio De Loera-Brust, a UFW spokesperson, would not comment on the budget trailer bill.
“We are working hard with the Governor’s Office and the Legislature to finish what we started last year,” he said in a statement.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to comment Thursday.
“The Governor looks forward to signing the agreed upon amendments strengthening implementation and voting integrity in last year’s legislation expanding union rights for farmworkers,” said said Omar Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Newsom’s office, in late February.
What will the law do?
Under the new law, farmworkers will have an additional way to unionize.
It allows them to vote via “card check,” allowing employees to sign cards to show their union support and drop it off at the Agricultural Labor Relations Board office. The new provisions will be either repealed or renewed before Jan. 1, 2028.
Previously, farmworkers had to call for a union election by petitioning the ALRB and then notifying their employer. They would often hold elections at the worksite.
Labor advocates and UFW have long said this allows for employers to union bust and take action against workers for organizing, including threats of deportation for those who are undocumented. More than half of California’s farmworkers are undocumented.
“Anytime that you have workers who are vulnerable because they lack rights, those workers will be fearful of retaliation from employers because they have less of a safety net,” said Ed Flores, a professor of sociology and faculty director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.
The law could eventually lead to an uptick in unionization among farmworkers. Fewer than 1% of California farmworkers are unionized, according to a UC Merced analysis.
“In this particular industry, where the workplace is on the owner’s private property, far from the view of the public, there’s an even more acute fear of participating in a union activity,” said Flores.
This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 11:01 AM with the headline "California farmworker union bill is on the verge of being available for use. What will it do?."
