The Wonderful Co. is ramping up its fight against unionization at its workplaces, trying to stop a new state law that would streamline the unionization process for farm workers, two months after the United Farm Workers used the provision to become the collective bargaining agent for its employees to become the company's huge winery in Kern County.
Wonderful, the $6 billion agricultural company owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, announced Monday that it is suing the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Gavin Newsom's so-called card check system in the state the law signed in 2022. Under its terms, a union can organize farm workers by requiring them to sign authorization cards at off-site meetings without notifying the employer, rather than by secret ballot at a designated polling place.
The company, whose portfolio includes such well-known brands as FIJI Water, Wonderful Pistachios and POM Wonderful, alleged over the summer that the law denies employers due process on multiple fronts. This includes: forcing a company to enter into a collective bargaining agreement even after it has formally appealed the ALRB's certification of a union vote and what it says has presented evidence that the voting process was fraudulent.
Wonderful said it was forced to file its lawsuit now because the company faces a June 3 deadline under the Card Check Act to enter into a collective bargaining agreement or have a collective bargaining agreement dictated by the ALRB.
“Because Wonderful was forced into an unconstitutional process requiring unconstitutional certification, Wonderful has no meaningful avenue to obtain simple, expeditious or complete relief except through an order of this court declaring that, on its face, [this section of the labor code] is unconstitutional,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit, which is being heard in Kern County Superior Court, seeks to stop the ALRB from enforcing the provisions of the Card Check Act.
The ALRB did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
A spokesman for Newsom's office said staff was still reviewing the complaint but included Newsom's comments in the response when he signed the bill. “California’s farmworkers are the lifeblood of our state, and they have the fundamental right to unionize and advocate for themselves in the workplace,” his statement read in part.
UFW spokeswoman Elizabeth Strater said the union was not surprised by Wonderful's move.
“It's an unfortunate tactic, but it's not surprising,” Strater said. “They will do just about anything to prevent worker empowerment.”
William B. Gould IV, professor of law emeritus at Stanford Law School, described the card check system as “an excellent law to challenge” because of the confusion and ambiguity surrounding some of its provisions and the “potential for contacts between regulators and ….” Employees”, which could raise the question of whether the employees acted of their own free choice.
While he predicted it would be difficult for Wonderful to make its case in California, the company could try to take its case to the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.
“To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, we are now in a situation where anything is possible,” said Gould, who served as ALRB chairman from 2014 to 2017.
The result is the latest salvo in a turbulent dispute over the UFW's union campaign at the country's largest winemaking school.
In late February, the union filed a petition with the Labor Relations Board claiming that the majority of the more than 600 farm workers at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco had signed authorization cards and demanding that the UFW be certified as their union representative.
Within days, Wonderful hit back with an explosive allegation: The company accused the UFW of tricking farmworkers into signing the authorization cards while helping them apply for $600 in federal aid for farmworkers who had worked during the pandemic . And nearly 150 signed statements were submitted by kindergarten teachers saying they didn't understand that by signing the cards they were voting to unionize.
The ALRB acknowledged receipt of the employee statements; Nevertheless, three days later, the regional director of the labor office moved to confirm the union's petition. She said in later hearings that she felt she had to move quickly within the time frame set by the card check law and that at the time she did not believe the law allowed her to investigate corruption.
Wonderful appealed the certification, claiming the UFW committed fraud to obtain employee signatures on authorization cards. The UFW countered that Wonderful intimidated the workers and, in the weeks that followed, hired a labor consultant with a reputation as a union buster to manipulate their emotions.
A hearing on Wonderful's objections has been taking place for three weeks before an independent hearing examiner. The lawsuit seeks to suspend the hearing pending the outcome of the card check lawsuit.
The UFW, meanwhile, is pursuing its own complaint against Wonderful. The union has filed a formal unfair labor practice complaint with the ALRB, alleging that Wonderful held mandatory meetings at which company leaders urged employees to reject the union, circulated an anti-union petition and misrepresented the union's intentions.
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