Union push pits the United Farm Workers against a major California agricultural business
A battle is underway in California between a unit of the Wonderful Co. and United Farm Workers over how a group of workers organized under a recently-enacted labor law
In a meeting room at a hotel in California's crop-rich Central Valley, a fight is taking place that could help shape the future of farm labor in fields that grow a chunk of the country's food.
The battle between a unit of the Wonderful Co. — one of the state's most well-known farm companies that grows pistachios, pomegranates and citrus — and United Farm Workers — the country's biggest farm worker union — comes after California passed a law in 2022 aimed at making it easier for agricultural laborers to organize.
Several hundred workers filed papers this year to unionize at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco, Calif., a move the company claimed was fraudulent. The allegations are being heard in proceedings that could uphold the newly-formed union or revoke its certification. Meanwhile, farmer and labor advocates are watching closely to determine what impact the new law is having in a state where most farmworkers are not organized.
Four groups of California farmworkers have so far organized under the law, marking the UFW's first successful attempts at farmworker unionization since 2016, said Elizabeth Strater, the union's director of strategic campaigns
“We’re going to see a continued rise in California of farmworker organizing, because there is a tremendous need,” Strater said. “Every time there’s a union win in the community, that raises the standard for other employers.”
Farmworkers aren't covered by federal rules for labor organizing in the United States. But California, which harvests much of the country's produce, enacted a law and created a special board in
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