FILE - Farmworkers Cynthia Burgos, left and Teresa Maldonado, right, hug after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to unionize in Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 28, 2022. A battle between The Wonderful Co. which grows pistachios, pomegranates, citrus and other crops and United Farm Workers is over new rules in California aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to form unions. FILE - Farmworkers Cynthia Burgos, left and Teresa Maldonado, right, hug after Gov.
Farmworkers aren’t covered by federal rules for labor organizing in the United States. But California, which harvests much of the country’s produce, enacted a law and created a special board in 1975 to protect their right to unionize.by collecting a majority of signatures without holding an election at a polling place — a move proponents said would protect workers from union busting and employers said lacked safeguards to prevent fraud. Democratic Gov.
“It is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country,” Paiz said. “There’s an absurdity to the claim these individuals would say, ‘No, I’m cool, I trust my employer.’” “Our members are very concerned about it,” Little said. “You have a union and all of a sudden you have a business partner in effect telling you how to operate your business.”
The issue is now before the board with an administrative law judge taking testimony from workers during a weekslong hearing that started in person and is continuing remotely with lawyers sparring over computer screens, while farmworkers speak from a Bakersfield meeting room with help from a Spanish interpreter.