Union Tries to End Secret Ballot in California

Written by CA Political News on August 28, 2009, 11:47 AM

Another farmworker election bill sent to Schwarzenegger
The UFW-sponsored measure would provide an alternative to the traditional secret ballot in votes to unionize. The governor has vetoed similar bills in the past.

By Eric Bailey, LA Times, 8/28/09

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union28-2009aug28,0,7086077,print.story

For the third time in three years, state lawmakers have sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a proposal that would change the way farmworker elections have operated since the days of Cesar Chavez.

The measure, sponsored by the United Farm Workers and carried by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), is intended to circumvent drawn-out campaigns of intimidation by growers.

As an alternative to the traditional secret ballot, the bill would allow a union to conduct an election by signing up more than 50% of a farm's workers and then presenting ballots to the state labor board. If a grower protested, the board would be required to investigate any allegations that the election had been improperly conducted.

The measure received final legislative approval in the Assembly on Thursday, with a partisan vote of 46 to 28. Republicans, who opposed the bill, argued that it would give the UFW a huge advantage in its bid to unionize workers -- and allow the union to pressure workers.

"I don't want farmworkers on my ranch to be intimidated," said Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Ceres), whose family farms in the San Joaquin Valley.

"We are putting agriculture in California out of business," said Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Marysville). "These are the types of bills that will crush our future."

Democrats, who form the majority in Sacramento, countered that the measure helps level the playing field so workers can fairly decide whether they want representation.

"This is the next step toward protecting the full democratic rights of farmworkers," said Assemblyman William Monning (D-Monterey).

Mike Naple, a Schwarzenegger spokesman, said the governor will not take a position on Steinberg's bill until it reaches his desk. But in vetoing previous legislation, Schwarzenegger has said he sees such changes as compromising the privacy of workers that is guaranteed by secret-ballot elections and posing the potential for workers to be intimidated.

Steinberg's proposal is similar to efforts being pushed on the federal level by the Service Employees International Union and other labor groups. But changes to federal labor rules would not affect the UFW because farmworkers are not covered under the National Labor Relations Act.