By Lucas Smith
The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) first announced in April 2025 a proposed rule amending the certification process for private sector unions in NYS, including farm unions, as well as introducing a much-anticipated framework for decertification.
Following an initial comment period, PERB released a Notice of Revised Rulemaking (NRR) on November 19, 2025. The revised rule is subject to a 45-day public comment period that will close around January 3, 2026.
Register to join us at Labor Roadshow where PERB chair, Timothy Connick will discuss farm unionization in NYS with attendees. Later at our closing webinar on December 22, Josh Viau from Fisher Phillips will provide a comprehensive update on farm unionization, including the significance of the proposed rule.
Below is a summary of the changes made to the rule between April 2025 and November 2025:
Decertification
- 263.30(d)
- The one-year period after certification of a new union during which no decertification petition may be filed remains the same. However the language for periods that do not count towards the one-year insulation period was changed from periods during which the parties had not “fully and fairly negotiated” to periods when the parties “have not actually negotiated”.
- Added reason for when the insulation period will be extended: “an employer’s refusal to provide requested information to a certified bargaining representative or a refusal to agree to meeting dates or places, or other events which resulted in no actual bargaining between the parties.”
- 263.30(f)
- Clarifies when a decertification petition may be filed as when employment “is not less than 50 percent of the employer’s peak agricultural employment for the current calendar year” and defines peak employment as “the payroll period during which the employer employs the largest number of employees for that calendar year”.
- 263.30(h): Adds that “If the open period [period when a previous contract has expired] occurs when the employer is at less than 50% of the employer’s peak agricultural employment, the decertification petition may only be filed during the next period when the employer is at least at 50% of peak employment.”
Certification
- 263.20:
- Adds a requirement that a petition for certification include a statement “upon information and belief” that the employer is at least at 50% of peak employment.
- 263.24(b)
- Adds a provision that “If the employer does not agree that it is at least 50 percent of peak employment, it shall provide to PERB and the petitioner all information that it is relying on in disputing this issue, including but not limited to, pay and time records for prior years, and any other information that supports its position.”
Subpoenas
- 263.54
- Adds language that a default in compliance with a subpoena will allow the hearing officer to “draw adverse inferences from the failure to comply.”
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The post When “Yes” means “No”. Cultural factors affecting this common frustration. appeared in The Ag Workforce Journal.
