The Supreme Court Just Dealt a Blow to Farmworkers — And All Other Workers, Too
Agricultural bosses won a Supreme Court case barring California unions from talking to farmworkers on the job site. It’s a major setback not just for farmworkers but all other workers, too.
(Jeff Greenberg / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
At five o’clock one morning in October of 2015, organizers with the United Farm Workers (UFW) arrived at Cedar Point Nursery with the intent of informing migrant workers of their rights. When Cedar Point workers went on strike later that month, they alleged low wages, unclean bathrooms, sexual assault at work, and intimidation from employers.
The UFW’s activity at Cedar Point was legally protected in California, which allows union organizers to access private agricultural property for three hours a day, 120 days per year. The rule dates to the 1975 passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, resulting from the efforts the farmworkers’ movement led by Cesar Chavez.
The owners of Cedar Point, a strawberry nursery nestled north of Mount Shasta and just south of the Oregon border, objected to the union’s presence, which precipitated the strike. In frustration they joined with another California agricultural employer, the Fowler Packing Company, which specializes in mandarin oranges and table grapes in California’s Central Valley, to challenge the hard-won access rule.
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