Appellate Court Rules for UFW, ALRB Appeal of Wonderful Nurseries Bargaining Order Injunction

Bryan Little, Farm Employers Labor Service

The California 5th District Court of Appeal has lifted an injunction imposed on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) preventing administrative action to enforce its order to Wonderful Nurseries to enter into collective bargaining negotiations. Wonderful had argued it would suffer irreparable harm if forced into a collective bargaining agreement while it continues to pursue a constitutional due-process challenge to the underlying card-check law passed by the California Legislature in 2022 (AB 113). The 5th Circuit instead ruled for the ALRB and the United Farm Workers that settling claims that Wonderful had engaged in union-busting intimidation tactics would be hampered if proceedings were delayed until Wonderful’s constitutional challenge was settled.

As a result, UFW could invoke the Agricultural Labor Relations Act’s Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation provisions, allowing an ALRB-appointed “mediator” to impose a union contract on Wonderful Nurseries even as it’s card-check challenge remains before the courts.

You can read more in the Los Angeles Times: “Negotiations between farmworkers and Wonderful Co. can continue, appellate court rules,” Oct. 25, 2024.

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