CA gets new law allowing union elections to be certified if growers

[demosincebirth]

By Associated Press, Published: October 10
FRESNO, Calif. — California has a new law that will allow state regulators to automatically certify union elections by farmworkers if they determine growers used threats or intimidation toward workers in the election process.

The law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown late Sunday, is part of a compromise after union efforts to change the fundamental way farmworkers organize failed earlier this year.
The United Farm Workers of America, whose membership has dwindled in recent years, says the new law will keep growers more accountable but doesn’t solve the issue of intimidation.
“It’s not what we want, not what we feel we really need to benefit a large number of farmworkers,” said Arturo Rodriguez, UFW president. “But it’s an improvement over what we had before. Clearly the current system was not working. It offered an incentive for the growers to violate the law, because they had no reason to obey it.”

Farmworkers previously called for majority sign-up elections, also known as card-check balloting, that would have allowed workers to vote by signing petitions away from the fields. Farmers and agricultural organizations vehemently opposed the moved due to possible election violations by union organizers.
During his first stint as governor, Brown in 1975 signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which gave workers the right to hold secret ballot elections. However, he vetoed the card-check bill in June.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/ca-gets-new-law-allowing-union-elections-to-be-certified-if-growers-use-threats-intimidation/2011/10/10/gIQArfBFbL_story.html