University of California
University of California
7/29/98 -- Associated Press
Labor leaders, lawmakers blast ALRB's handling of strawberry election
By STEVE LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
(07-29) 01:02 EDT SACRAMENTO (AP) -- The state farm labor board is drawing sharp criticism from labor leaders and several lawmakers for going ahead with a major union recognition election that opponents called a sham.
"What we are dealing with here is a lack of enforcement of the law of the state of California, nothing more, nothing less," said Assemblyman Dick Floyd, D-Wilmington. "You should never have approved anything under violence or the threat of violence."
Floyd, chairman of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, and Sen. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, who chairs the Senate Industrial Relations Committee, held a hearing Tuesday on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board's decision to hold a union recognition election at Coastal Berry Co., the nation's largest strawberry grower.
The election, won by the Coastal Berry Farm Workers Committee, was held last Thursday, despite strong objections from the United Farm Workers union.
The UFW charged that the workers committee is really a front for the grower and that workers had been intimidated into signing petitions asking for an election.
Voting took place three weeks after an incident in a Watsonville area field in which several pro-UFW workers said they were attacked by pro-grower demonstrators.
Among other things, television coverage of the incident showed a man hitting a woman in the face with a strawberry crate.
ALRB officials said they decided to go ahead with the election despite the fact they had determined that UFW assertions had passed minimum validity thresholds and Coastal Berry announced at the last minute that it would not provide witnesses to rebut the union.
The company said it took that step because of concerns about its employees' safety, said ALRB General Counsel Paul Richardson.
"We were fully prepared to investigate this case and ... make an appropriate assessment of where the truth was," he said. "But we cannot start issuing complaints ... when the rug is pulled out from under us two days before the election. It was difficult to assess the strength of the charges brought forth by the union."
He said ALRB policy since 1982 had essentially been to "vote now, litigate later."
"We have to give some credence (to the fact) that a majority of farm workers asked for an election," he added.
J. Antonio Barbosa, the ALRB's executive secretary, said the board's regional director in Salinas decided to go ahead with the election because he feared more violence if he didn't.
Barbosa said the UFW could ask the ALRB to overturn the election if it acts by this Thursday, and UFW President Arturo Rodriguez indicated that union would take that step.
"The key here is really the future of farm worker representation by unions...," he said. "The strawberry industry has shown it will go to any lengths to keep its workers from organizing."
But several legislators and labor representatives couldn't understand why the ALRB allowed the election to take place at all.
UFW representatives said they had presented ample evidence, including copies of canceled checks, proving that the workers committee was supported by growers.
Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, said there was no way that Coastal Berry workers could have cast ballots without worrying about company retaliation, because of the earlier violence.
And Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los Angeles, said when one party in a labor dispute refuses to cooperate with the National Labor Relations Board it hurts their cause. He said the ALRB should be required to adopt the same approach.
"If you don't have a rule like that any competent attorney will advise their client never to say anything," he said.
Solis said representatives of Coastal Berry, the Western Growers Association and the Coastal Berry Farm Workers Committee were invited to testify but either declined for varying reasons or didn't respond.