Bruce J. Janigian
Chairman, Agricultural Labor Relations Board
The Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) has exclusive authority to conduct representation elections and settle formal labor disputes in California agriculture, which is outside the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. In 1975 the Agricultural Labor Relations Act gave farm workers fundamental legal rights to organize and act together for mutual aid or protection-with or without union involvement, and it made the board's procedures "the exclusive method of redressing unfair labor practices." Even in a period of declining union membership nationwide, the ALRB has been receiving an increased flow of claims filed by farm workers. Unfair labor practice charges have grown slightly over the past five years as a whole.
Our protracted state budget crisis is challenging the ALRB as never before. The board began its current fiscal year (on July 1, 1992) with a budget 18.5 percent lower than in the previous year, and it is preparing for an additional 15 percent reduction. Staffing is down to 54 persons statewide, which is about one-fifth of the staff in fiscal year 1978-79, and one-half the number authorized as recently as 1989-90. Two major legislative efforts last year to defund the ALRB entirely were forestalled, but it is clear that some restructuring is necessary to meet the state's legal obligations to agricultural employers and employees within resource constraints.
Mindful of the board's responsibilities and despite budgetary obstacles, we vigorously and successfully stepped up efforts in 1991-92 to enhance our level of public service to California. We resisted closing one or more field offices as a short-run expedient to cost savings, which would have been quite detrimental at first to the directly served public and ultimately to the general public. We chose instead to further reduce headquarters staffing, office space, and library services, to create staffing and operational efficiencies throughout our organization, and to utilize cooperative services from other state agencies. The principal contributions to each measure came from our highly trained and dedicated staff, who willingly and sometimes acrobatically extended themselves to meet increased expectations.
We achieved systemic improvement and coordinated with other institutions to reduce costs. One example was the initiation of combined liability and compliance hearings, using new regulatory provisions designed to save time and expense. We have also increased outreach efforts through the news and trade media, electronic and print communications of the state's University systems, and other agencies and groups concerned with agricultural employment. The board prepared new English and Spanish statements of worker and employer rights for the Employment Development Department (EDD) to distribute through its 41 field offices. The new notices emphasize awareness of individual rights for mutual support under the ALRA in the absence of union representation (see accompanying box). They point out the accessibility of board staff for assistance and investigation of alleged violations. Guidelines were also given to other state agencies for making referrals to ALRB regional offices.
During this current fiscal year, our principal concern has been to develop a strategy for restructuring while maintaining attention to our case-driven workload. Numerous changes associated with downsizing will continue to direct many of our internal adjustments, as they did in 1991-92. We are successfully expanding the use of board counsel to encompass appellate litigation and are cross-training secretaries to handle myriad functions. Active membership on the board itself has decreased from five to three, barely a quorum for decision making, but the resources normally allocated to the two vacant board positions have been freed to support staff enforcement of the ALRA.
We have developed options for the ALRB to share staffing or offices with other state agencies. Preliminary discussions were held with EDD, which has farm labor services in 41 rural offices, and with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), which maintains a staff of administrative law judges and labor law specialists in Sacramento. Potential movement of ALRB field offices into existing EDD facilities was examined for its impact on costs and on functions as a single local point of contact for comprehensive state farm labor services. Similarly, locating ALRB headquarters with PERB's was considered with respect to cost savings through pooling administrative and library costs and sharing administrative law judges.
Beyond these larger organizational issues, the board is examining measures to enhance follow-up on its case decisions. A substantial total of sums found to be owing have been thusfar uncollectable, because many compliance cases await lengthy resolution of federal bankruptcy proceedings or are thwarted by business reorganizations and dispersal of assets. When cases are not rapidly resolved, it is often difficult to locate beneficiaries for payment. We will be exploring use of private collection agencies to assist in securing compensation for successful claimants within a reasonable time. We also expect to systematically file unappealed board orders as court judgements to enhance collections and to support contempt charges when appropriate. More use of court protective orders and notices of pending unfair labor practices are anticipated.
The board is continuing to streamline its procedures, consistent with the concept of total quality management. Approaches for realizing efficiencies across agency lines are being explored. For the first time, the board is also reviewing the possibility of seeking private grants to support some of its outreach efforts.
A final adjustment that must be considered, reluctantly, is the possibility of charging for some ALRB proceedings that have been conducted entirely at state expense. Imposing fees for filings that are determined to be abusive or frivolous would make sense. Record preparation fees for appellate filings by the board would also seem reasonable in most cases. We are reluctant to pursue filing or hearing fees as a general practice, however, and would obviously prefer to increase the early settlement of cases as a means of avoiding the major state and party expenses that accrue over lengthy board proceedings. The history of this agency clearly demonstrates that the only winners in protracted cases are legal counsel.
Ultimately, public cooperation and the totality of relationships at the farm level will determine how much additional cost savings can be achieved in these difficult times. As long as agricultural labor disputes arise, dedicated efforts to maintain an effective ALRB are essential to their orderly, just settlement.
ALRB Statement of ALRA Fundamentals
The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act gives farm workers the right to:
Employers may not discriminate or retaliate against farm workers for exercising any of these rights. For example, even where there is no union representation, or when no union contract is in effect, farm workers still have the right to cooperate to seek improved pay and working conditions. An employer may not retaliate against a worker merely for speaking out or taking other protected actions with or on behalf of one or more fellow workers. Prohibited retaliation may take the form of discharge, layoff, failure to recall to work, a reduction in pay or benefits, or assignment to less desirable jobs or working conditions made in response to protected activity.
Similarly, unions may not restrain or coerce farm workers in exercising any of these rights, or in refraining from doing so.
Workers who believe their rights have been violated and employers or labor organizations concerned with avoiding violations of the law, or learning their own rights under the Act, are advised to contact their closest Agricultural Labor Relations Board office for assistance.
ALRB Offices
Headquarters
| Agricultural Labor Relations Board 915 Capitol Mall, 3rd Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 |
Phone: 916/653-3699 FAX: 916/653-2743 |
Regional Offices
| Region 1 319 Waterman Avenue El Centro, CA 92243 |
Phone: 619/353-2130 FAX: 619/353-2443 |
| Region 2 112 Boronda Road Salinas, CA 93907 |
Phone: 408/443-3161 FAX: 408/443-3225 |
| Region 3 711 North Court Street Visalia, CA 93291 |
Phone: 209/627-0995 FAX: 209/627-0985 |
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