A group of 20 Wonderful Nurseries employees has joined as intervenors in a legal challenge to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board’s certification of United Farm Workers (UFW) as their collective bargaining representative.

The lawsuit alleged coercion and misconduct by the union during the authorization process, conducted under the new card-check “election” process created by changes in the Agricultural Labor Relations Act passed in 2022, which deprives employees of the right to an ALRB supervised secret ballot election to determine union representation. In challenging the certification, Wonderful alleged “fraud, duress, trickery, deceit, misrepresentation, and other unlawful conduct” to obtain employee’s signatures on representation cards.

Wonderful employees asserting intervenor status in the legal action against ALRB are being supported by the National Right to Work Legal Foundation (NLRTF), which contends the ALRB’s decision to certify UFW imposes union representation without employees’ voluntary consent.

According to NLRTF president Mark Mix, “by granting union bosses the authority to sweep workers under their control with suspect ‘card check’ campaigns, then having the government impose a forced-dues contract over the objection of both workers and businesses, California legislators have created an environment where workers’ individual rights are being crushed to promote raw, unchecked union boss power.”