Newsom signs bill to ease farmworker unionization after vetoing 2021 version
Farmworkers will have an easier path to unionizing under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday that is similar to a bill he vetoed last year and for which President Joe Biden publicly urged support over the Labor Day weekend.
Newsom said in a statement that he signed the bill, AB 2183, only after securing a commitment from the United Farm Workers and California Labor Federation for “clarifying language” to be passed during next year’s legislative session to address his “concerns around implementation and voting integrity.”
“California’s farmworkers are the lifeblood of our state, and they have the fundamental right to unionize and advocate for themselves in the workplace,” Newsom said in a statement. “Our state has been defined by the heroic activism of farmworkers, championed by American icons like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong. California is proud to stand with the next generation of leaders carrying on this movement.”
Farmworker rights aren’t an abstract issue for Newsom. He’s the founder of the PlumpJack Group, a hospitality management company that owns Napa Valley wineries as well as restaurants, bars and lodging.
Political experts were closely watching what Newsom would do with the bill for clues of his national ambitions, as he has been mentioned repeatedly as a Democratic presidential contender should Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris not run again in two years.
The governor’s August veto of a bill that would have authorized what critics called legal “drug dens” to treat addiction was seen as partly motivated by concern over how it would play to voters nationally. Political analyst Bill Whalen at the Hoover Institution said at the time that the farmworker unionization bill was one that a Democrat like Newsom would be inclined to sign despite his misgivings, to avoid losing union support.
“If he wants to run for president,” Whalen predicted in August, “he’ll sign it this time.”
Last year’s bill, AB 616, would have allowed farmworkers to unionize by a simple card-check procedure, rather than the current in-person voting process, which unions have argued can intimidate workers who would like to organize but are pressured by coworkers who fear it will usher job cuts.
Newsom said in a Sept. 22, 2021 veto message on AB 616 that it “contains various inconsistencies and procedural issues related to the collection and review of ballot cards,” and directed the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and other agencies and stakeholders to resolve those issues.
AB 2183, by Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Monterey), creates a couple of new ways for farmworkers to vote in a union election, with options for mail-in ballots and authorization cards submitted to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, in addition to the existing in-person voting process.
The California Farm Bureau Federation opposed AB 2183, arguing it would “strip agricultural employees of their rights to express their sentiments about unionization in secret-ballot elections conducted by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, free from fear, intimidation, coercion, or trickery exerted by anyone interested in the outcome.”
Newsom faced mounting pressure to sign the bill. Farmworkers and their supporters had held vigils in cities around the state and rallied at the state Capitol in August.
Over Labor Day weekend, Biden said in a statement that “I strongly support” AB 2183, which he said “will give California’s agricultural workers greater opportunity to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”
“Government should work to remove — not erect — barriers to workers organizing,” Biden said in a subtle poke at the governor.
The supplemental agreement between Newsom’s administration, the UFW and the California Labor Federation includes a cap on the number of card-check petitions over the next five years. Newsom’s statement said that will allow the ALRB to “adequately protect worker confidentiality and safety.”