Cuentos Inmigrantes
Hundreds of farm workers witness the Assembly vote on SB104
KALWNews.org
By Crosscurrents Producer
Hundreds of farm workers came to Sacramento Monday, May 16, to witness the Assembly vote on SB104. The Assembly approved the bill, known as the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, on a party-line vote of 51-26.
Authored by state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and sponsored by the United Farm Workers Union, the bill allows farm workers to select their union representatives by sending in petition cards. Right now farm workers can only choose collective bargaining representation by a secret ballot vote at a polling place usually located at the work site.
Western Growers president and CEO Tom Nassif voiced his opposition to the bill in a statement: "This legislation is not about advancing the cause of farm workers; SB104 is only about advancing the cause of a union that cannot persuade workers to vote for it without having a union organizer looking over the worker's shoulder."
Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO told the farm workers who came to Sacramento, "We have many laws in America that protect most workers that give them the chance to vote to be in the union. For some reason the laws do not protect farm workers. Even though other workers face many intimidations, we know that farm workers suffer many more abuses and many more intimidations than the rest of us do because the laws do not protect you. That is why we stand in support and solidarity with the UFW today in order to pass this law to help farm workers across the state."
The bill is now headed to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown.
Cuentos Inmigrantes is a weekly collection of immigration news and views, from there to here and back.
