June 12, 2024

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Michael Marsh, President and CEO

                (202) 629-9320

(Arlington, VA) The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) announced today the filing of a brief of amicus curiae in support of Wonderful Nurseries’ (Wonderful) fight against California’s unjust and unsafe “card check” law.

“California’s card check law,” explained Michael Marsh, President and CEO of NCAE, “which eliminates secret ballot union elections, gives private labor unions an unprecedented ability to impose bargaining and contractual obligations on an employer without even verifying whether the actual farmworkers support the union. The removal of this most basic democratic practice and protection for farmworkers does not merely open the door wide for potential misuse, abuse and coercion by private labor unions–it takes the door off the hinges.”

Earlier in the year, and only months after Governor Newsom signed California’s card check bill into law, NCAE learned of allegations of coercion by the United Farm Workers (UFW) of vulnerable workers and potential misuse of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm and Food Worker Relief (FFWR) Grant Program.

“Distressingly,” noted Marsh, “such an outcome was completely foreseeable. Last May, NCAE learned of and wrote to warn USDA Secretary Vilsack of reported allegations that agents of the UFW Foundation were informing farmworkers in New York, which passed the card check law that inspired California, they must first sign a UFW union authorization card to obtain their $600 FFWR payment.  Such an assertion would be dishonest.  NCAE asked the Secretary to investigate the allegations to ensure that no wrongdoing was occurring.  We have not yet been informed whether the USDA’s law enforcement arms, the Office of Inspector General or the U.S. Department of Justice, has initiated an investigation into the farmworker’s allegations.  Maybe there’s no there, there, but an investigation would certainly answer a lot of questions.”

In the Court filing, NCAE explains that the card check law is bad policy, unconstitutional in the private sector, and damaging to the constitutional rights of farmworkers as well as employers. You can view a copy of NCAE’s filing here.

“NCAE supports Wonderful’s fight against this perplexing card check law,” stated Marsh. “America’s farmers and ranchers are already struggling to keep operations running under the worst agricultural economy in generations without themselves and their workers being harassed by private labor unions.”

NCAE is the national trade association focusing on agricultural labor issues from the employer’s viewpoint.

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