More than 100 Gerawan Farming workers will observe oral arguments starting at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday in front of a three-judge panel of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Fresno over a legal assault on the law that produced their state-issued union contract. The workers will note Gerawan lawyers’ challenge to California’s 2002 mandatory mediation law under which their union contract was hammered out by a neutral mediator and approved by the state in 2013 was previously rejected in the appellate courts.
The agricultural industry mounted a vigorous legal challenge to the law after it was enacted 13 years ago. The Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento heard the case and upheld the law’s constitutionality in 2006. The agricultural industry sought review of the case in the California Supreme Court and the state high court denied the review, thus affirming the constitutionality of the law. The arguments Gerawan raises in its challenge to the mandatory mediation law before the Fifth District are essentially the same as those raised by the agricultural industry that were rejected by the appeals court in 2006.
Among numerous serious violations of the law alleged by state prosecutors is Gerawan’s refusal to implement the mediator’s state-approved union contract.
WHO: Gerawan workers observing oral arguments in a Fifth District Appeals courtroom.
WHAT: Observing oral arguments by attorneys for Gerawan, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the United Farm Workers.
WHEN: Beginning at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
WHERE: Fifth District Court of Appeal, 2424 Ventura Street, Fresno 93721.