Los Angeles Times, Sept. 3, 2011
Deal could make it easier for farmworkers to unionize
A bill stemming from an agreement between advocates and Gov. Jerry Brown would let a state board certify a union if it finds a grower has acted illegally to affect the outcome of a labor election.
By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
September 3, 2011
Two months after an acrimonious late-night standoff on a related issue, Gov. Jerry Brown and farmworker advocates have struck a deal to give state regulators new powers that could help agriculture workers unionize.
The measure, introduced in the Legislature on Friday, would allow the state’s Agriculture Labor Relations Board to certify a union if it finds that a grower has acted illegally to affect the outcome of a labor election. The legislation would also accelerate the mediation process for workers in disputes with their employers.
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Sacramento Bee, Sept. 3, 2011, Page A1
UFW, Jerry Brown meet in the middle — for now
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By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com<mailto:dsiders@sacbee.com>
Published: Saturday, Sep. 3, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Even before the United Farm Workers union started marching through the Central Valley, through vineyards and orchards to a rally at the Capitol, Arturo Rodriguez, the union president, knew Gov. Jerry Brown wouldn’t sign the farmworker legislation he was pushing.
Not this year, at least.
But two months after Brown vetoed a "card-check" bill that would have made it easier to unionize farmworkers, the Democratic governor made significant movement on the issue in a compromise proposal this week, offering organizing farmworkers greater protections within existing law.
The proposal, negotiated by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and written into a bill by legislative Democrats on Friday, is considered far-reaching enough and sure enough to pass that the union is preparing to turn its protest rally Sunday into a celebration.
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