California judge halts hearing in fight between state agricultural giant and farmworkers' union

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A California judge has temporarily blocked a hearing from taking place in a dispute between one of the state's most influential agricultural companies and the country's biggest farmworkers' union.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Bernard C. Barmann Jr. issued a preliminary injunction late Thursday halting the hearing and a push by the United Farm Workers to negotiate a labor contract for nursery workers at the Wonderful Co.

At the heart of the fight is a law enacted in California in 2022 aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to form labor unions by no longer requiring them to vote in physical polling places to do so. A group of Wonderful nursery workers unionized under the so-called “card check” law this year, and Wonderful objected, claiming the process was fraudulent.

The dispute was being aired in a lengthy hearing with an administrative law judge that was put on hold by Barmann's ruling. “The public interest weighs in favor of preliminary injunctive relief given the constitutional rights at stake in this matter,” Barmann wrote in a 21-page decision.

Wonderful, a $6 billion company known for products ranging from Halos mandarin oranges to Fiji water brands, filed a lawsuit in May challenging the state's new law. “We are gratified by the Court’s decision to stop the certification process until the constitutionality of the Card Check law can be fully and properly considered,” the company said in a statement.

Elizabeth Strater, a UFW spokesperson, said the law for decades has required employers to take concerns about union elections through an objections process before turning to the courts. “We look forward to the appellate court overturning the court ruling,” she said in a statement.

At least four other groups of farmworkers have organized in California under the 2022 law, which lets the workers form unions by signing authorization cards.

California has protected farmworkers' right to unionize since the 1970s. Agricultural laborers are not covered by federal laws for labor organizing in the United States.