Catherwood LibraryILR School

On Monday the California Supreme Court upheld a 2002 law that allows either farmers or unions, if collective bargaining attempts have stalled, to ask for a neutral mediator to impose a contract covering wages and working conditions. The dispute before the court involved the United Farm Workers of America - founded by Cesar Chavez – which had won the right to represent the workers of Gerawan Farming Inc, but had failed to negotiate a contract. The union asked the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board for help in 2013, resulting in the board ordering a binding mediation; the mediator wrote a contract that the board then approved. Gerawan Farming, the state’s largest peach farmer and one of the nation’s largest growers, filed a lawsuit, arguing against the constitutionality of the state law. The UFW union president stated that Gerawan must now pay workers more than $10 million in back wages. Gerawan Farming plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, stating that “coerced contracts are constitutionally at odds with free choice.”