| SPECIAL EDITION: SCHWARZENEGGER CONSIDERING CARD CHECK BILL, URGENT ACTION NEEDED Western Growers and other agriculture and business organizations are very concerned that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is seriously considering signing into law SB 1474 (Steinberg), the UFW card check bill. Schwarzenegger has until Sept. 30 to either sign this legislation into law or veto the bill. Time is off the essence for Western Growers members to take action.
WG urges every member to immediately write or e-mail the Governor a personalized message urging his veto of this hostile legislation. While the Governor has received many e-mailed letters from WG members generated through our grassroots action center, it is critically important that he continue to receive messages urging his veto and that farmers speak in their own words.
SB 1474 represents the fourth attempt by the UFW to remo ve the impediment of the secret ballot process in union representation elections. Schwarzenegger vetoed the previous bills. In his veto of last year's card check bill (SB 789), the Governor wrote: "This process fundamentally alters an employee′s right to a secret ballot election that allows the employee to choose, in the privacy of the voting booth without coercion or manipulation, whether or not to be represented. While I support the right of agricultural employees to voluntarily seek and choose representation if they wish, and ensuring that existing labor laws are enforced is a top priority for my administration, I cannot support this alteration of the secret ballot process."
SB 1474 suffers from the same flaw despite creative amendments designed to hide its real purpose. Under the bill:
-The UFW can assert that the employer engaged in misc onduct during the secret ballot election, altering the outcome of the election. If the ALRB agrees, the election is set aside, even if a clear majority of employees voted against union representation, and the cards that employees signed calling for a secret ballot election are used to declare that the workers have chosen the union.
-This is a back door path to card check.
-SB 1474 assumes election authorization cards submitted by a union are synonymous with a majority of employees supporting representation by the union. There is often no correlation between the two. Employees sign authorization cards for many reasons that have nothing to do with union support, including: to merely call for a secret election, to stop a union organizer from pestering them, or because they were misled about the consequences of signin g, or not signing, the cards.
- The UFW will inundate the ALRB with bogus allegations of misconduct and pressure the agency to set aside elections. SB 1474 would create a new era of conflict, litigation and strife that would greatly damage the positive and beneficial employer-employee relationships that are the norm in California agriculture today.
- Communication between employers and their employees will be chilled as employers attempt to avoid bogus misconduct allegations.
To e-mail a message to the Governor, please use this link: http://gov.ca.gov/interact
To send a letter vi a regular mail, sent to:
Hon. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor
State of California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Western Growers is working with other state and national agriculture and business organizations to make sure the Governor understands the fundamental flaws of card check legislation and the damage signing such a bill would do to the state's business climate. Watch for updates in future Spotlights.
For more information, contact WG's Dave Puglia (dpuglia@wga.com) at (916) 446-1435. Back to top | Western Grower and Shipper 
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