Volume 8, Number 1, Winter-Spring 1999
By no means are pending reorganizations limited to the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Now working its way through the California Legislature is a bill that would bring six employment-related entities into a single agency at the cabinet level, akin to the federal Department of Labor and similar agencies in all other major industrialized states. Senate Bill 150 (Solis) would create a Labor Agency consisting of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), the Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Employment Development Department, the Public Employment Relations Board, and the Fair Employment and Housing Commission. The Labor Agency would be headed by a Secretary appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation. The Governor also would choose new appointees for key posts in the component entities, as the current terms of all exempt officers and employees would end upon creation of the agency. SB150 was introduced on January 6, 1999, amended in February, and approved (8-2) by the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization on March 24. The bill itself and timely reports on its progress can be accessed from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.
Meanwhile, with three of its five seats vacant since late January, the ALRB has been unable to conduct business above the staff level. Among items awaiting Board action are (1) an appeal from an administrative decision to set aside the victory of a local union in a representation election at the Coastal Berry Company last July, (2) a package of regulatory revisions for submission to the Office of Administrative Law, and (3) certification of results of a March 29 election won (63-2) by the Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Workers at Hess Collection Winery.