Albany, NY – On October 24, 2024 the New York State Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) denied 3 New York farms’ requests to stay the Certification and Order to Negotiate, as well as the referral to binding arbitration. This decision affirms PERB’s prior decision granting UFW’s request for binding arbitration at the 3 farms. In each case, this final Board decision allows the binding arbitration process to proceed, following over a year of legal delay tactics, and what UFW contends is bad-faith bargaining that has continued to deny farm workers at the 3 farms the ability to negotiate the UFW union contract they are entitled to.
Following the PERB’s decision binding arbitration will proceed at the following 3 farms.
- A & J Kirby Farms LLC, an apple producer in Albion, New York, where a UFW majority was certified on March 16th, 2023.
- Lynn-Ette & Sons Inc., a vegetable producer in Kent, New York, where a UFW majority was certified on April 11th, 2023.
- Wafler Farms Inc., an apple producer in Wolcott, New York, where a UFW majority was certified on May 11, 2023.
Since certification with the UFW, Lynn-Ette and Sons and Wafler Farms have not issued a single contract proposal, while A & J Kirby Farms has only issued one contract proposal. Neither Lynn-Ette nor Wafler Farms have had a single bargaining session despite efforts by the UFW to schedule dates for negotiations since being certified in early 2023. Following certification by the NY PERB, each of these employers has attempted to appeal their UFW certifications, and two (Kirby and Lynn-Ette) even signed on as plaintiffs in an attempt to overturn New York’s landmark 2019 agricultural labor law that ended New York farm workers’ unjust exclusion from collective bargaining rights. In effect, the workers at all 3 farms have had their right to union representation undermined by their employers’ continued refusal to negotiate a union contract in good faith.
“Today’s decision by the PERB makes clear that the Growers’ delay tactics have reached the end of the legal road,” said UFW Secretary-Treasurer Armando Elenes. “Farm workers at Kirby, Lynn-Ette, and Wafler have exercised their right to a union. We have tried bargaining in good faith. We have followed the law. It’s time for the Growers to follow the law as well. If they won’t bargain in good faith to negotiate a fair union contract, then New York law will provide farm workers with the contract they deserve.”
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