The Wonderful Co. is stepping up its battle against unionization in its workplaces, seeking to stop a new state law aimed at streamlining the process of unionizing farm workers. The move comes two months after the United Farm Workers used the provision to become the collective bargaining representative for employees at the company's massive grape nursery in Kern County.
Wonderful, the $6 billion agricultural powerhouse owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, said Monday that it is suing the state's Agricultural Labor Relations Board, challenging the constitutionality of the state's so-called card check system, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law in 2022. Under its provisions, a union can organize farmworkers by inviting them to sign authorization cards at off-site meetings, without notifying the employer, instead of voting by secret ballot at a designated voting location. .
The company, whose portfolio includes such well-known brands as FIJI Water, Wonderful Pistachios and POM Wonderful, alleges in its lawsuit that the law deprives employers of due process on multiple fronts. Among them: forcing a company to enter into a collective bargaining agreement even if it has formally appealed the ALRB's certification of a union vote and has presented what it believes is evidence that the voting process was fraudulent.
Wonderful said it was forced to file its lawsuit now because, under the card verification law, the company faces a June 3 deadline to reach a collective bargaining agreement or have one handed down by the ALRB.
“Having been forced to follow a constitutionally illegal procedure that imposes a constitutionally illegitimate certification, Wonderful has no meaningful way to obtain clear, prompt, or complete relief except through an order from this Court declaring that, prima facie, [this section of the labor code] is unconstitutional,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, which will be heard in Kern County Superior Court, seeks to enjoin the ALRB from enforcing provisions of the card verification law.
The ALRB did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
A spokesperson for Newsom's office said staff members were still reviewing the complaint but included Newsom's comments when he signed the legislation in the response. “California farmworkers are the lifeblood of our state and have a fundamental right to unionize and defend themselves in the workplace,” his statement read in part.
UFW spokeswoman Elizabeth Strater said the union was not surprised by Wonderful's move.
“This is an unfortunate tactic, but it's not surprising,” Strater said. “They will do almost anything to stop workers from gaining power.”
William B. Gould IV, professor emeritus of law at Stanford Law School, described the card verification system as “an excellent statute to challenge” because of the confusion and ambiguity surrounding some of its provisions and the “potential for contacts between organizers and employees” that could raise questions about whether the workers were acting with free choice.
While he predicted Wonderful would have a “difficult time” making its case in California, he said the company could try to take its argument to the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.
“To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, we are now in a situation where anything goes,” said Gould, who was ALRB chairman from 2014 to 2017.
The lawsuit is the latest salvo in what has been a tumultuous dispute over the UFW's unionization drive at the nation's largest grape nursery.
In late February, the union filed a petition with the labor relations board, claiming that most of the more than 600 farmworkers at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco had signed authorization cards and asking that the UFW be certified as their union representative. .
Within days, Wonderful responded with an explosive allegation: The company accused the UFW of inciting farmworkers to sign authorization cards while helping them apply for $600 in federal aid for farmworkers who worked during the pandemic. And he presented nearly 150 signed statements from daycare workers who said they had not understood that by signing the cards they were voting to unionize.
The ALRB acknowledged having received the workers' statements; However, the regional director of the labor board moved forward three days later to certify the union's request. She said in subsequent hearings that she felt she had to act quickly under the timeline set out in the card verification law, and that at the time she did not believe the statute authorized her to investigate allegations of misconduct.
Wonderful appealed the certification, alleging that the UFW committed fraud to obtain employee signatures on authorization cards. The UFW responded that Wonderful had intimidated workers into making false statements and had hired a labor consultant with a reputation as a union-buster to manipulate his emotions in the weeks that followed.
A hearing on Wonderful's objections before an independent hearing examiner has been underway for the past three weeks. The lawsuit seeks to suspend the hearing, pending the outcome of the card verification lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the UFW is filing its own complaint against Wonderful. The union filed a formal unfair labor practices complaint with the ALRB, alleging that Wonderful held mandatory meetings in which company leaders urged employees to reject the union, circulated an anti-union petition, and misrepresented the union's intentions.
