Rural Laws: April, 2001 - Number #7

The ALRB issued two decisions in January-February 2001. In Borchard et.al. (27 ALRB 1), the Board refused to dismiss charges in 13 cases filed against six growers because, in the opinion of the ALRB's Regional Director, there was no effective remedy for the unfair labor practices committed. Many of the charges dated from the l ate 1970s, and the Board outlined the procedures ALRB Regional Directors are to follow when they believe "there is no reasonable likelihood that further efforts will result in full or additional compliance with the Board's order in a fully adjudicated case."

For example, one of the Lu-Ette Farms cases involved charges filed in 1979 that Lu-ette introduced a conveyor-belt machine to pick melons, rather than having workers pick melons into bags that have 14 to 18 melons each and are carried up a gangplank into a truck with sides that are about five feet high. The ALRB ruled that Lu-ette had an obligation to bargain over the effects of the conveyor-belt machine on wages and working conditions, but not on the decision to use the conveyor-belt machine. The ALRB ordered Lu-ette to make its employees whole for any losses they suffered because of the change in the harvesting system.

In Hess Collection Winery, (27 ALRB 2), Hess refused to bargain with UFCW Local 1096 despite a 63-2 vote for representation on March 29, 1999. Hess filed objections to the elections that were dismissed, and refused to bargain with the UFCW while seeking a review of the certification decision. In March 2000, Hess agreed to bargain, but the ALRB general counsel sought make-whole wages and benefits for the period when Hess refused to bargain.

In this technical refusal-to-bargain case- the employer refused to bargain because he felt the union should not have been certified- the ALRB looks at evidence of employer good or bad faith, and the reasonableness of the employer's arguments for appealing the ALRB's decision to certify the union. The ALRB concluded that Hess showed no evidence of good faith, and that the reasons for not accepting certification were not reasonable, and ordered makewhole for Hess workers between May 1999 and March 2000.

The National Labor Relations Board is expected to get four new members and a new general counsel in 2001, which may lead to a reconsideration of allegedly pro-union decisions made in 2000, including the July 2000 Epilepsy Foundation decision that allows nonunion workers to take colleagues with them to personnel-related meetings with management, and the August 2000 MB Sturgis and Jeffboat decision that made it easier for temporary workers assigned to work at a company to organize into a union.

AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO met in Los Angeles in February 2001, trying to regroup after making a major effort to elect Al Gore as president. President Bush plans to issue four executive orders opposed by the AFL-CIO, including one requiring federal contractors to post a notice telling workers they have a right not to pay that part of union fees used for political activities. A 1988 US Supreme Court decision (CWA v Beck) established the right of workers to get refunds of that portion of required union payments used for political activities, but employers say few workers know they have this right.

Linda Chavez- Thompson, the AFL-CIO's executive vice president and the labor movement's highest-ranking Hispanic and woman, called for legalization for unauthorized workers. Chavez-Thompson was profiled in a February 17 New York Times article.

The AFL-CIO's 66-member unions have 13 million members, and they organized 400,000 workers in 2000; the goal is one million new members in 2001. About 13.5 percent of US workers belong to unions, down from 13.9 percent in 1999; the peak year of union membership was 1953, when 35 percent of US workers were union members. A February 2001 poll found that 60 percent of Americans view unions positively, while 25 percent disapprove of unions.

Ryan Davis, "Hundreds protest wages on farms," St. Petersburg Times, January 14, 2001.