California Agricultural Labor Relations Act
Encyclopedia
The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA) is a landmark statute
enacted by the state of California
which became law on June 5, 1975, and which establishes collective bargaining
for farmworker
s in that state.
The goal of the Act is to "ensure peace in the agricultural fields by guaranteeing justice for all agricultural workers and stability in labor relations." The Act, part of the California Labor Code
, explicitly encourages and protects "the right of agricultural employees to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection."
The Act established rules and authorized regulations similar to those of National Labor Relations Act
, a federal law which formally protected the collective bargaining rights of most American workers except farmworkers. The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) administers the Act. The ALRB has two functions: To conduct, oversee, and certify representation elections, and to investigate unfair labor practice
(ULP) charges and pursue remedies. Administrative law judge
s and agency staff adjudicate most cases, with the five-member Board serving as a final arbiter.
(NIRA). Although NIRA did not specifically exempt agricultural laborers from the protection of the Act, the Roosevelt administration
—eager to win over farm-state members of Congress—argued that farmworkers were excluded. When the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted in 1935, it, too, specifically exempted agricultural workers due to pressure from the "farm bloc" in Congress. Although a number of attempts were made in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s to organize farm laborers, these efforts were unsuccessful.
In August 1966, the National Farm Workers Association and Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, two unrecognized and relatively minor labor unions claiming to represent farm workers in California, merged to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (the predecessor organization to the United Farm Workers
). Adopting the philosophy of pacifism
in the face of often violent reaction to its organizing efforts and engaging in strikes
, hunger strike
s, boycott
s and secondary boycotts (including the particularly successful Delano grape strike
), marches, rallies, and cutting-edge public relations campaigns, the United Farm Workers (UFW) began organizing large numbers of agricultural laborers into unions. In some cases, the UFW even won recognition and negotiated contracts.
to organize farm laborers in the Salinas Valley
in California led to the costly "Salad Bowl strike." Six thousand drivers and packing workers represented by the Teamsters struck on July 17, 1970, winning a contract on on July 23 under which growers gave the Teamsters, not the UFW, access to farms and the right to organize workers into unions. Secret talks between the UFW and the Teamsters led to an agreement to return jurisdiction over the field workers to the farm union, but the agreement collapsed on August 23 and 7,000 UFW workers struck the Salinas Valley growers. Violence, sporadic at first but increasingly widespread, began to occur in the fields. On December 4, federal marshals
arrested and jailed Chávez. Two days later, an anti-union mob nearly rioted when former Olympic
gold medal-winning decathlete
Rafer Johnson
and Ethel Kennedy, widow of slain Senator
Robert F. Kennedy
visited Chávez in jail. The two unions signed a new jurisdictional agreement reaffirming the UFW's right to organize field workers,
. The violence worsened when the dispute moved into the Delano vineyards. Seventy farm workers were attacked on July 31, a UFW picketer was shot on August 3, five firebombs were thrown at UFW picket lines on August 9, two UFW members were shot on August 11, and a UFW picketer was shot to death on August 16. Finally, a tentative agreement was reached on September 27, 1973, in which the Teamsters again agreed to leave jurisdiction over farm field workers to the UFW.
The new agreement did not last long. On November 7, just 41 days later, the Teamsters union said it would not repudiate the contracts it had signed. But the UFW now had too few resources and membership to do much about it. The UFW deployed its best strategic weapon, the boycott, and kept up the push for a national boycott of grapes, wine and lettuce. The Teamsters reiterated their pledge to uphold their contracts in November.
By late 1974, many observers were concluding that the UFW was not longer a viable force. The UFW called a few small strikes, defied court injunctions to stop picketing, and continued pushing its national boycotts. But in July it was forced to end picketing at some grape fields near Delano. But the Teamsters were in no better position to win organizing battles. The union had opened a major organizing drive in March 1974 and established a regional farm workers' local in June, but the effort was in chaose by November. Newspaper columnists, however, began wondering in June whether the UFW had any capacity to fight, and by February 1975 had concluded the union had no future.
, long an avid supporter of the UFW, had been elected Governor of California
in November 1974. Brown had even hired LeRoy Chatfield, a former high-level UFW staffer, as one of his key aides.
Once in office, however, Brown's support for the UFW cooled. The UFW knew it had to make a strong political showing in order to push Brown and the California State Legislature
to act.
The UFW considered more mass picketing, more rallies, and more boycotts, but the union was worried that it had lost the support of farm workers and the public and that such events would point up the weakness of the union rather than its strength. Instead, the UFW settled on a 110-mile (180 km) march by a small group of UFW leaders from San Francisco to the E & J Gallo Winery
in Modesto
. The organizers envisioned a small but dramatic march that would not require large numbers of participants. Just a few hundred marchers left San Francisco on February 22, 1975. But more than 15,000 people joined them enroute by the time they reached Modesto on March 1.
The spontaneous, spectacular success of the Modesto march garnered significant media attention, and proved that the UFW still had the support of farm workers.
Republican
State Senator
George Murphy had sponsored a Republican- and grower-backed bill the same year which guaranteed the right to organize, imposed secret-ballot elections, and restricted right to strike and to engage in boycotts. But the Murphy bill, as well as a less restrictive bill in the State Assembly, died. Murphy introduced an even more restrictive bill in 1970, but that too failed.
The first positive sign for labor law reform came in 1971. An association of major growers agreed to support legislation which provided for recognition of farm worker unions in January 1971. The State Senate narrowly approved a bill opposed by the UFW, but the Assembly killed the measure. Based on the support for the growers in the State Senate, the growers backed a ballot measure
, Proposition 22, which would have guaranteed the right to organize but placed heavy restrictions on the right to strike, boycott, and picket. Then-California Attorney General
Jerry Brown sued to have Proposition 22 removed from the ballot amid allegations of signature fraud on the approving petition, violation of child labor laws (children as young as six years old were alleged to have been paid to collect signatures), and bribery. The measure went down to defeat.
The next legislative push came in 1973. The American Farm Bureau Federation
, the nation's largest association of farmers and a representative of many California growers, proposed amending the federal National Labor Relations Act to permit agricultural workers to organize. The change led California Governor Ronald Reagan
to introduce a bill in the California state legislature that would permit agricultural field workers to unionize under secret ballot elections as well as ban secondary boycotts. But the state Assembly did not pass the bill. However, California's then-Secretary of State
, Jerry Brown—declaring that a "bloody civil war" existed in the Central Valley—came out in favor of a legislative solution in August 1973. Brown, a longtime labor attorney
who had met César Chávez in 1968 and long supported the UFW and helped introduce UFW leaders to Hollywood
stars, directors, and studio heads in order to help the union win critical support in the entertainment industry.
Brown's public support and his impending run for governor (which was widely anticipated) led Chávez to make a stronger push for labor law reform in 1974. Chávez and John F. Henning
, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation (the state body of the AFL-CIO
, wrote the bill and first-term Chicano
Assemblyman Richard Alatorre
(D
-Los Angeles) introduced the bill. But Governor Ronald Reagan led opposition which killed the bill.
voiced his support for the legislation.
The bill which would eventually become CALRA was introduced in both chambers of the state legislature on April 10, 1975. Top UFW staff member Dolores Huerta
acted as the farm worker union's chief lobbyist. With McCarthy, some growers, and the UFW behind the bill, a key State Senate committee approved the bill on May 7. Key labor unions (including the Teamsters), arguing that card check
rather than secret ballot elections should be the bill's preferred method of resolving unionization disputes, opposed the bill. Nonetheless, a key State Assembly committee approved it on May 12, despite attempts by some Teamster members to intimidate legislators into opposing the bill. The opposition was countered by the UFW, which held rallies to support the bill, and agreement was reached on May 19 on a compromise bill.
By that time, however, the deadline for passing a bill out of its chamber of origination had passed, and Governor Brown was forced to call a special session of the legislature to pass the farm labor bill. A Senate committee approved the bill on May 21, the full Senate passed the bill on May 26, two Assembly committees reported the bill on May 27, and the Assembly passed the bill and set it to Governor Brown for his signature on May 29. Just 50 calendar days were needed to pass the bill. Governor Brown signed the legislation into law on June 4, 1975.
The Act establishes a five-member Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), whose five-year terms are staggered so that one member's term ends on January 1 of each year. The ALRB must issue a written report on its activities to the Governor and Legislature each year, may establish officers or offices and delegate all or part of its authority to such on an as-needed basis, and has extensive investigatory, subpoena, and enforcement powers.
The Act defines unfair labor practices for both employers and labor unions. Section 1154 (d) of the Act bans strikes (including recognition strike
s) by workers who have not selected an organization as their labor representative through the procedures outlined by the Act, but protects secondary picketing and publicity only if the labor union is the certified bargaining representative or has not lost an election at the worksite in the past 12 months and only if the publicity or picketing does not induce others to engage in strikes. Section 1154.5 explicitly bans hot cargo agreements. The Act also requires bargaining in good faith
.
The Act outlines procedures similar to those of the National Labor Relations Act for electing a representative labor organization. Only secret ballot elections are permitted. The Board has the right to determine the correct bargaining unit, and an election is triggered only when a petition signed by a majority of current workers is presented. There are several bars to holding an election (including the existence of an existing certified labor organization, an election was held and lost within the previous 12 months, and an election was held but no contract executed within the previous 12 months).
To encourage the adoption of collective bargaining agreements, the Act (as amended) provides for the declaration of an impasse, mandatory and binding 30-day mediation and conciliation, review of the mediator's report, and court review of binding mediation. The Act contains a "make-whole" remedy for bad-faith bargaining intended to encourage employers to bargain in good faith. Under this provision, the ALRB can "take affirmative action including...making employees whole, when the Board deems such relief appropriate, for the loss of pay resulting from the employer's refusal to bargain".
bishop, a farmer, a member of La Raza Unida Party, a former UFW official, and a former Teamsters attorney) on June 23, 1975, just 18 days after signing the Act into law. The ALRB had an initial budget of $1.5 million ($6.46 million in 2009 inflation-adjusted dollars).
CALRA went into effect on August 28, 1975. Draft regulations governing the operation of the Board and secret ballot organizing elections were issued 10 days earlier, but did not address the controversial issue of whether union organizers would have access to the workplace (e.g., fields). The ALRB issued rules giving organizers access to fields on August 29, and the UFW filed for the first union elections under the Act on September 1. But a federal district court enjoined the Board from implementing its worksite access rules on September 3—putting a halt to some ballot-counting in several elections. By the end of the first week of elections, the UFW had won 22 bargaining units and the Teamsters 13, while growers had alleged the UFW had committed unfair labor practices in several elections. The California Supreme Court lifted the ban on union organizers in the fields on September 18, and the ALRB issued its first formal ULP complaints (against two growers) the next day.
The inexperience of the Board and its agents, the large number of court challenges to the new law, the large number of elections held, and the large number of alleged violations of the law led to significant delays in voting, ballot-counting, and enforcement. A special panel of attorneys and investigators was named by Governor Brown on October 4 to help alleviate the backlog, and strengthened penalties for anyone found guilty of committing a ULP were put in place on October 16 to help reduce the number of violations.
Despite the large number of union elections, CALRA's effect on union membership seems mixed at best. Much of this evidence focuses on the UFW, assumed to be the prime beneficiary of the Act. Membership in the UFW fell from a high of more than 70,000-60,000 in 1972 to a low of 6,000-5,000 in 1974, but rose to just 18,000 by 1977. The Teamsters, however, had more than 55,000 farm worker members by 1977. The UFW had only six major collective bargaining agreements by 1994 (one vegetable grower, four citrus growers, one mushroom grower, and a host of small nurseries). However, one study concludes that mass importation and use of illegal immigrants—not flaws in CALRA—are holding down additional collective bargaining gains. Others conclude (on the basis of anecdotal evidence) that the Teamsters have signed sweetheart deal
s with perhaps as many as 375 growers, holding down membership gains for the UFW. Others criticize the ALRB for being politicized. Critics point to the change in the Board in 1980, when George Deukmejian
, the new Republican
governor of California, replaced the Brown board with allegedly pro-grower members, leading to low union confidence in the Board's impartiality and a severe decline in the number of election petitions brought before the board.
One positive outcome has been the end of jurisdictional warfare between the UFW and Teamsters. The UFW signed an agreement with the Teamsters in March 1977 in which the UFW agreed to seek to organize only those workers covered by CALRA, while the Teamsters agreed to organize all other agricultural workers. The agreement also led the UFW to end its boycott of lettuce, grapes, and wine in February 1978. Why did the two unions sign the agreement? UFW officials claimed the Teamsters were on the verge of losing a jurisdictional battle for 50,000 workers being decided by the ALRB, but at least one press report indicated that the scandal-scarred union wished to burnish its public image.
It is also not clear whether CALRA has had a beneficial effect on the Californian economy. One study concluded that the Act actually resulted in a net economic loss: Higher prices were being charged for produce, farm worker earnings and land values had actually dropped. However, another analysis has concluded that these economic effects are minimal compared to the reduction in poverty which has occurred.
The Act's "make-whole" provision has also come under scrutiny. Although the make-whole provision's goal is laudable, it is argued, the Board's decisions have led to litigation that lasts for years and mitigate the impact of any awards.
at the state's horse racing tracks
.
A major revision was enacted in 2002. A rising number of impasses in collective bargaining appeared to be frustrating the purpose of CALRA. The UFW backed two bills which would impose binding arbitration and mediation on unions and employers if an impasse was declared. The bills passed the state legislature in August 2002, and Governor Davis signed them into law in October. Growers filed suit in state court to have the amendments declared unconstitutional, but a state appeals court upheld the revisions in 2006.
Another attempt to revise the law in 2007 was also unsuccessful. The UFW backed a bill which would allow card check unionization, arguing that large majorities of workers signed union authorization cards but then were intimidated into voting against the union during the election process. The growers argued that the UFW was either duping or intimidating workers into signing union authorization cards, and that the secret ballot voting revealed the true feelings of workers. But the bill did not pass either chamber.
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
enacted by the state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
which became law on June 5, 1975, and which establishes collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
for farmworker
Farmworker
A farmworker is a person hired to work in the agricultural industry. This includes work on farms of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large industrial agriculture operations...
s in that state.
The goal of the Act is to "ensure peace in the agricultural fields by guaranteeing justice for all agricultural workers and stability in labor relations." The Act, part of the California Labor Code
California Labor Code
The California Labor Code, more formally known as "the Labor Code" is a collection of civil law statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the State of California.-Division 1...
, explicitly encourages and protects "the right of agricultural employees to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection."
The Act established rules and authorized regulations similar to those of National Labor Relations Act
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...
, a federal law which formally protected the collective bargaining rights of most American workers except farmworkers. The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) administers the Act. The ALRB has two functions: To conduct, oversee, and certify representation elections, and to investigate unfair labor practice
Unfair labor practice
In United States labor law, the term unfair labor practice refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act and other legislation...
(ULP) charges and pursue remedies. Administrative law judge
Administrative law judge
An administrative law judge in the United States is an official who presides at an administrative trial-type hearing to resolve a dispute between a government agency and someone affected by a decision of that agency. The ALJ is usually the initial trier of fact and decision maker...
s and agency staff adjudicate most cases, with the five-member Board serving as a final arbiter.
Background
Collective bargaining rights for most hourly workers in the United States were first given legal protection in 1933 by Section 7a of the National Industrial Recovery ActNational Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act , officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly...
(NIRA). Although NIRA did not specifically exempt agricultural laborers from the protection of the Act, the Roosevelt administration
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
—eager to win over farm-state members of Congress—argued that farmworkers were excluded. When the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted in 1935, it, too, specifically exempted agricultural workers due to pressure from the "farm bloc" in Congress. Although a number of attempts were made in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s to organize farm laborers, these efforts were unsuccessful.
In August 1966, the National Farm Workers Association and Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, two unrecognized and relatively minor labor unions claiming to represent farm workers in California, merged to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (the predecessor organization to the United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...
). Adopting the philosophy of pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
in the face of often violent reaction to its organizing efforts and engaging in strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
s, boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
s and secondary boycotts (including the particularly successful Delano grape strike
Delano grape strike
The strike began when the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California, led by Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, walked off the farms of area table-grape growers, demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage...
), marches, rallies, and cutting-edge public relations campaigns, the United Farm Workers (UFW) began organizing large numbers of agricultural laborers into unions. In some cases, the UFW even won recognition and negotiated contracts.
The Salad Bowl strike
A series of violent strikes and inter-union jurisdictional battles set the political stage for passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act. By 1969, the UFW was on the verge of winning the four-year-old Delano grape strike. But as the Delano grape strike seemed to be ending, an attempt by the International Brotherhood of TeamstersTeamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
to organize farm laborers in the Salinas Valley
Salinas Valley
The Salinas Valley lies south of San Francisco, California.The word "salina" is spanish for salt marsh, salt lake or salt pan.-Geography:The Salinas Valley runs approximately south-east from Salinas towards King City. The valley lends its name to the geologic province in which it's located, the...
in California led to the costly "Salad Bowl strike." Six thousand drivers and packing workers represented by the Teamsters struck on July 17, 1970, winning a contract on on July 23 under which growers gave the Teamsters, not the UFW, access to farms and the right to organize workers into unions. Secret talks between the UFW and the Teamsters led to an agreement to return jurisdiction over the field workers to the farm union, but the agreement collapsed on August 23 and 7,000 UFW workers struck the Salinas Valley growers. Violence, sporadic at first but increasingly widespread, began to occur in the fields. On December 4, federal marshals
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
arrested and jailed Chávez. Two days later, an anti-union mob nearly rioted when former Olympic
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...
gold medal-winning decathlete
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson is an American former decathlete and film actor.-Biography:Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's...
and Ethel Kennedy, widow of slain Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
visited Chávez in jail. The two unions signed a new jurisdictional agreement reaffirming the UFW's right to organize field workers,
Worsening violence of the jurisdictional dispute
The Teamsters resumed their dispute with the UFW in December 1972, which led to further extensive disruptions in the state agricultural industry, mass picketing, mass arrests, and extensive violence. Many growers signed contracts with the Teamsters on April 15, and thousands of UFW members began picketing in the fields. Mass arrests jailed more than 1,700 UFW members by late July (some county jails had three times the number of detainees they were legally capable of holding), and UFW members made law enforcement officers of beating detainees. Soon the organizing battles between the two unions became violent. "Flying squads" of Teamster members began attacking UFW supporters in broad daylight in the Coachella ValleyCoachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...
. The violence worsened when the dispute moved into the Delano vineyards. Seventy farm workers were attacked on July 31, a UFW picketer was shot on August 3, five firebombs were thrown at UFW picket lines on August 9, two UFW members were shot on August 11, and a UFW picketer was shot to death on August 16. Finally, a tentative agreement was reached on September 27, 1973, in which the Teamsters again agreed to leave jurisdiction over farm field workers to the UFW.
The new agreement did not last long. On November 7, just 41 days later, the Teamsters union said it would not repudiate the contracts it had signed. But the UFW now had too few resources and membership to do much about it. The UFW deployed its best strategic weapon, the boycott, and kept up the push for a national boycott of grapes, wine and lettuce. The Teamsters reiterated their pledge to uphold their contracts in November.
By late 1974, many observers were concluding that the UFW was not longer a viable force. The UFW called a few small strikes, defied court injunctions to stop picketing, and continued pushing its national boycotts. But in July it was forced to end picketing at some grape fields near Delano. But the Teamsters were in no better position to win organizing battles. The union had opened a major organizing drive in March 1974 and established a regional farm workers' local in June, but the effort was in chaose by November. Newspaper columnists, however, began wondering in June whether the UFW had any capacity to fight, and by February 1975 had concluded the union had no future.
The Modesto march and the push for legislation
The ongoing fight between the Teamsters and UFW and its effect on UFW's organizational viability led César Chávez to seriously consider legal reform as a solution to his union's problems. Chávez had rejected legislative solutions in the past by arguing that a truly successful union movement must be built from the ground up rather than rely on top-down activity. But Chávez began to reconsider this stand in light of the attacks by the Teamsters. Additionally, the time seemed right for a legislative program: Jerry BrownJerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
, long an avid supporter of the UFW, had been elected Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
in November 1974. Brown had even hired LeRoy Chatfield, a former high-level UFW staffer, as one of his key aides.
Once in office, however, Brown's support for the UFW cooled. The UFW knew it had to make a strong political showing in order to push Brown and the California State Legislature
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
to act.
The UFW considered more mass picketing, more rallies, and more boycotts, but the union was worried that it had lost the support of farm workers and the public and that such events would point up the weakness of the union rather than its strength. Instead, the UFW settled on a 110-mile (180 km) march by a small group of UFW leaders from San Francisco to the E & J Gallo Winery
E & J Gallo Winery
E & J Gallo Winery was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest exporter of California wines and is a large promoter of wines from Sonoma County.-History:...
in Modesto
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
. The organizers envisioned a small but dramatic march that would not require large numbers of participants. Just a few hundred marchers left San Francisco on February 22, 1975. But more than 15,000 people joined them enroute by the time they reached Modesto on March 1.
The spontaneous, spectacular success of the Modesto march garnered significant media attention, and proved that the UFW still had the support of farm workers.
Legislative history of CALRA
The dramatic success of the Modesto march energized the farm labor movement in California, and Governor Brown quickly began pushing for labor law reform. Grower resistance never emerged, as many employers were reluctant to continue the fight against the UFW. "The grape boycott scared the heck out of the farmers, all of us," said one major grower, and employers did not want the UFW to start yet another boycott.Previous legislative efforts
Several previous efforts to enact legislation protecting collective bargaining rights for farm workers had emerged in California between 1969 and 1975, but all had failed. César Chávez had briefly supported labor law reform in California in April 1969, and ConservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
State Senator
State Senator
A state senator is a member of a state's Senate, the upper house in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a legislator in Nebraska's one house State Legislature.There are typically fewer state senators than there are members of a state's lower house...
George Murphy had sponsored a Republican- and grower-backed bill the same year which guaranteed the right to organize, imposed secret-ballot elections, and restricted right to strike and to engage in boycotts. But the Murphy bill, as well as a less restrictive bill in the State Assembly, died. Murphy introduced an even more restrictive bill in 1970, but that too failed.
The first positive sign for labor law reform came in 1971. An association of major growers agreed to support legislation which provided for recognition of farm worker unions in January 1971. The State Senate narrowly approved a bill opposed by the UFW, but the Assembly killed the measure. Based on the support for the growers in the State Senate, the growers backed a ballot measure
Initiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
, Proposition 22, which would have guaranteed the right to organize but placed heavy restrictions on the right to strike, boycott, and picket. Then-California Attorney General
California Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
Jerry Brown sued to have Proposition 22 removed from the ballot amid allegations of signature fraud on the approving petition, violation of child labor laws (children as young as six years old were alleged to have been paid to collect signatures), and bribery. The measure went down to defeat.
The next legislative push came in 1973. The American Farm Bureau Federation
American Farm Bureau Federation
The American Farm Bureau Federation , commonly referred to as the Farm Bureau, is a nonprofit organization and the largest general farm organization in the United States...
, the nation's largest association of farmers and a representative of many California growers, proposed amending the federal National Labor Relations Act to permit agricultural workers to organize. The change led California Governor Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to introduce a bill in the California state legislature that would permit agricultural field workers to unionize under secret ballot elections as well as ban secondary boycotts. But the state Assembly did not pass the bill. However, California's then-Secretary of State
Secretary of State (U.S. state government)
Secretary of State is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the Secretary of the Commonwealth...
, Jerry Brown—declaring that a "bloody civil war" existed in the Central Valley—came out in favor of a legislative solution in August 1973. Brown, a longtime labor attorney
Labour law
Labour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...
who had met César Chávez in 1968 and long supported the UFW and helped introduce UFW leaders to Hollywood
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
stars, directors, and studio heads in order to help the union win critical support in the entertainment industry.
Brown's public support and his impending run for governor (which was widely anticipated) led Chávez to make a stronger push for labor law reform in 1974. Chávez and John F. Henning
John F. Henning
John Francis "Jack" Henning was a U.S. labor leader, civil servant, and a former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Under Secretary of Labor...
, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation (the state body of the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, wrote the bill and first-term Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
Assemblyman Richard Alatorre
Richard Alatorre
Richard Alatorre is an American politician from California. He served as a prominent member of the California State Assembly from 1973 to 1985, and as a noted member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1985 to 1999.-Background:...
(D
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
-Los Angeles) introduced the bill. But Governor Ronald Reagan led opposition which killed the bill.
Passage
Jerry Brown's election as governor significantly improved the chances of passing a bill in 1975. Two of the 26 paragraphs of Brown's inaugural address were devoted to the need for farm labor legislation, Assembly Speaker Leo T. McCarthyLeo T. McCarthy
Leo Tarcissus McCarthy was a New Zealand-born American politician and businessman. He served as the 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1983 to 1995....
voiced his support for the legislation.
The bill which would eventually become CALRA was introduced in both chambers of the state legislature on April 10, 1975. Top UFW staff member Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta
Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO , and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Early life:...
acted as the farm worker union's chief lobbyist. With McCarthy, some growers, and the UFW behind the bill, a key State Senate committee approved the bill on May 7. Key labor unions (including the Teamsters), arguing that card check
Card check
Card check is a method for American employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards," stating they wish to be represented by the union...
rather than secret ballot elections should be the bill's preferred method of resolving unionization disputes, opposed the bill. Nonetheless, a key State Assembly committee approved it on May 12, despite attempts by some Teamster members to intimidate legislators into opposing the bill. The opposition was countered by the UFW, which held rallies to support the bill, and agreement was reached on May 19 on a compromise bill.
By that time, however, the deadline for passing a bill out of its chamber of origination had passed, and Governor Brown was forced to call a special session of the legislature to pass the farm labor bill. A Senate committee approved the bill on May 21, the full Senate passed the bill on May 26, two Assembly committees reported the bill on May 27, and the Assembly passed the bill and set it to Governor Brown for his signature on May 29. Just 50 calendar days were needed to pass the bill. Governor Brown signed the legislation into law on June 4, 1975.
Structure of the Act
The Act defines agriculture to include farming (which includes cultivation and tillage of soil; dairy production; cultivation, growing, and harvesting of agricultural or horticultural commodities; raising livestock, bees, furbearing animals, or poultry; and/or forestry or lumbering operations), and includes all activities incidental to or in conjunction with agriculture (such as preparation for market, transportation, or storage). Employees are defined in the Act, but the definition excludes anyone engaged in construction, painting, building repair,or land moving operations unrelated to the preparation of land for cultivation.The Act establishes a five-member Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), whose five-year terms are staggered so that one member's term ends on January 1 of each year. The ALRB must issue a written report on its activities to the Governor and Legislature each year, may establish officers or offices and delegate all or part of its authority to such on an as-needed basis, and has extensive investigatory, subpoena, and enforcement powers.
The Act defines unfair labor practices for both employers and labor unions. Section 1154 (d) of the Act bans strikes (including recognition strike
Recognition strike
A recognition strike is an industrial strike implemented in order to force a particular employer or industry to recognize a trade union as the legitimate collective bargaining agent for a company's workers...
s) by workers who have not selected an organization as their labor representative through the procedures outlined by the Act, but protects secondary picketing and publicity only if the labor union is the certified bargaining representative or has not lost an election at the worksite in the past 12 months and only if the publicity or picketing does not induce others to engage in strikes. Section 1154.5 explicitly bans hot cargo agreements. The Act also requires bargaining in good faith
Good faith
In philosophy, the concept of Good faith—Latin bona fides “good faith”, bona fide “in good faith”—denotes sincere, honest intention or belief, regardless of the outcome of an action; the opposed concepts are bad faith, mala fides and perfidy...
.
The Act outlines procedures similar to those of the National Labor Relations Act for electing a representative labor organization. Only secret ballot elections are permitted. The Board has the right to determine the correct bargaining unit, and an election is triggered only when a petition signed by a majority of current workers is presented. There are several bars to holding an election (including the existence of an existing certified labor organization, an election was held and lost within the previous 12 months, and an election was held but no contract executed within the previous 12 months).
To encourage the adoption of collective bargaining agreements, the Act (as amended) provides for the declaration of an impasse, mandatory and binding 30-day mediation and conciliation, review of the mediator's report, and court review of binding mediation. The Act contains a "make-whole" remedy for bad-faith bargaining intended to encourage employers to bargain in good faith. Under this provision, the ALRB can "take affirmative action including...making employees whole, when the Board deems such relief appropriate, for the loss of pay resulting from the employer's refusal to bargain".
Implementation
Governor Brown nominated the ALRB's first five members (a CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
bishop, a farmer, a member of La Raza Unida Party, a former UFW official, and a former Teamsters attorney) on June 23, 1975, just 18 days after signing the Act into law. The ALRB had an initial budget of $1.5 million ($6.46 million in 2009 inflation-adjusted dollars).
CALRA went into effect on August 28, 1975. Draft regulations governing the operation of the Board and secret ballot organizing elections were issued 10 days earlier, but did not address the controversial issue of whether union organizers would have access to the workplace (e.g., fields). The ALRB issued rules giving organizers access to fields on August 29, and the UFW filed for the first union elections under the Act on September 1. But a federal district court enjoined the Board from implementing its worksite access rules on September 3—putting a halt to some ballot-counting in several elections. By the end of the first week of elections, the UFW had won 22 bargaining units and the Teamsters 13, while growers had alleged the UFW had committed unfair labor practices in several elections. The California Supreme Court lifted the ban on union organizers in the fields on September 18, and the ALRB issued its first formal ULP complaints (against two growers) the next day.
The inexperience of the Board and its agents, the large number of court challenges to the new law, the large number of elections held, and the large number of alleged violations of the law led to significant delays in voting, ballot-counting, and enforcement. A special panel of attorneys and investigators was named by Governor Brown on October 4 to help alleviate the backlog, and strengthened penalties for anyone found guilty of committing a ULP were put in place on October 16 to help reduce the number of violations.
Impact of the law
By the end of January 1976, the ALRB had received 604 election petitions, conducted 423 elections involving over 50,000 workers (80 percent of elections had objections filed), received 988 ULP charges, issued 254 citations for violations of the Act, and issued 27 decisions. Between 1975 and 1984, unions won 88 percent of all elections, but between 1984 and 2003 won less than 50 percent of elections. By 1994, however, two-thirds of all elections had been held in the Act's first three years, and since 1978 about half of all elections had been decertification elections.Despite the large number of union elections, CALRA's effect on union membership seems mixed at best. Much of this evidence focuses on the UFW, assumed to be the prime beneficiary of the Act. Membership in the UFW fell from a high of more than 70,000-60,000 in 1972 to a low of 6,000-5,000 in 1974, but rose to just 18,000 by 1977. The Teamsters, however, had more than 55,000 farm worker members by 1977. The UFW had only six major collective bargaining agreements by 1994 (one vegetable grower, four citrus growers, one mushroom grower, and a host of small nurseries). However, one study concludes that mass importation and use of illegal immigrants—not flaws in CALRA—are holding down additional collective bargaining gains. Others conclude (on the basis of anecdotal evidence) that the Teamsters have signed sweetheart deal
Sweetheart deal
The term sweetheart deal or sweetheart contract is used to describe an abnormally favorable contractual arrangement. A golden parachute is an example of a type of sweetheart deal...
s with perhaps as many as 375 growers, holding down membership gains for the UFW. Others criticize the ALRB for being politicized. Critics point to the change in the Board in 1980, when George Deukmejian
George Deukmejian
Courken George Deukmejian, Jr. born June 6, 1928) is an Armenian American politician from California who as a Republican served as the 35th Governor of California and as California Attorney General .-Early life:...
, the new Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
governor of California, replaced the Brown board with allegedly pro-grower members, leading to low union confidence in the Board's impartiality and a severe decline in the number of election petitions brought before the board.
One positive outcome has been the end of jurisdictional warfare between the UFW and Teamsters. The UFW signed an agreement with the Teamsters in March 1977 in which the UFW agreed to seek to organize only those workers covered by CALRA, while the Teamsters agreed to organize all other agricultural workers. The agreement also led the UFW to end its boycott of lettuce, grapes, and wine in February 1978. Why did the two unions sign the agreement? UFW officials claimed the Teamsters were on the verge of losing a jurisdictional battle for 50,000 workers being decided by the ALRB, but at least one press report indicated that the scandal-scarred union wished to burnish its public image.
It is also not clear whether CALRA has had a beneficial effect on the Californian economy. One study concluded that the Act actually resulted in a net economic loss: Higher prices were being charged for produce, farm worker earnings and land values had actually dropped. However, another analysis has concluded that these economic effects are minimal compared to the reduction in poverty which has occurred.
The Act's "make-whole" provision has also come under scrutiny. Although the make-whole provision's goal is laudable, it is argued, the Board's decisions have led to litigation that lasts for years and mitigate the impact of any awards.
Efforts at revision
A number of efforts to revise CALRA have been made over the years. The first significant effort came in 2000, when Democratic Governor Gray Davis vetoed an effort to expand CALRA's reach to stablehandsGroom (horses)
A groom is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable owner, but even an owner of a horse may perform the duties of a groom, particularly if the...
at the state's horse racing tracks
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
.
A major revision was enacted in 2002. A rising number of impasses in collective bargaining appeared to be frustrating the purpose of CALRA. The UFW backed two bills which would impose binding arbitration and mediation on unions and employers if an impasse was declared. The bills passed the state legislature in August 2002, and Governor Davis signed them into law in October. Growers filed suit in state court to have the amendments declared unconstitutional, but a state appeals court upheld the revisions in 2006.
Another attempt to revise the law in 2007 was also unsuccessful. The UFW backed a bill which would allow card check unionization, arguing that large majorities of workers signed union authorization cards but then were intimidated into voting against the union during the election process. The growers argued that the UFW was either duping or intimidating workers into signing union authorization cards, and that the secret ballot voting revealed the true feelings of workers. But the bill did not pass either chamber.
External links
- California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB)
- "The Agricultural Labor Relations Board." Agricultural Personnel Management Program, University of California, Berkeley.
- The Fight in the Fields: César Chávez and the Farmworkers' Struggle, a documentary film which covers, in part, the UFW-Teamster struggle and enactment of CALRA