By Richard Stup and Lucas Smith
There have been recent headlines in the farm press and the general press about two elections related to union organizing efforts on New York farms. These elections were ordered by New York’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) due to circumstances specific to the farms. It’s important for farm employers to understand that there has been no change to the standard farm union organizing process in New York. The standard process involves union organizers collecting signed dues authorization cards from farm employees. If organizers believe they have greater than 50% of employees signing, then they can petition PERB to recognize a farm union without an election. While PERB retains discretion on when to order an election, it has only exercised that power so far in two special circumstances and is not required to honor an employer’s request that a secret ballot election be held.
In the case of Merrell Dairy, according to news reports, PERB found that one of its administrative law judges had improperly limited the pool of employees when reviewing the organizing petition for the farm from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. As a remedy, they authorized a secret ballot election for the farm employees where the workers voted 44-2 against union representation.
Crist Bros Orchard employees were some of the earliest farm employees solicited by the United Farm Workers (UFW) union in New York. The farm resisted the union’s organizing efforts, including participating in a federal lawsuit and asserting that the farm’s employees were coerced by the union into signing dues authorization cards. There was also much legal wrangling over charges of unfair labor practices, and ultimately, according to an industry news release, PERB decided that a secret ballot election should be held. The UFW subsequently withdrew its petition, opting not to seek to represent Crist Bros employees.
Again, these two cases, Merrell and Crist, were elections specifically ordered by PERB to deal with special situations. Ordinarily, union organizers simply need more than half of a farm’s employees to sign dues authorization cards indicating that they want to form a union. This organizing can be done quietly, often without the farm employer knowing that it is happening until informed by PERB.
To learn more about New York’s farm union law, access resources about farm unions and collective bargaining on our website. There you will learn about the overall process and specific guidance for how farm managers and supervisors can communicate appropriately with farm employees about unions. For a technical review of the process, read PERB’s Guide to Understanding The Farm Laborers’ Fair Labor Practices Act.
By Richard Stup and Lucas Smith, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution.
The post The Farm Union Organizing Process Has Not Changed in New York appeared in The Ag Workforce Journal.
Lucas Smith joins us as an Extension Associate with a focus on regulatory compliance with state and federal labor laws. A native of Clifton Springs in the Finger Lakes region, Lucas earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Sciences from Cornell University, concentrating in business management and policy. He recently completed his law degree at Albany Law School.
Dr. Kaitlyn Lutz joins the team as an Extension Associate specializing in organizational development. Most recently, Kaitlyn worked with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Team as a bilingual dairy educator. She also brings prior experience as a practicing veterinarian in Western New York.