Steven Greenhut: Farmworkers Battle Unions and Bureaucrats

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Joaquín Martínez Rosado

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, whose objective enshrined in the labor code is to ensure "the right of agricultural employees to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing," is doing no such thing, according to Steven Greenhut. The board gave short-shrift to about 50 workers who filled the board's auditorium last Tuesday during its public meeting. The assembled farmworkers were treated politely but their long-standing concerns—that they are being denied the right to select their own labor representatives—have been ignored. Neither the governor nor any legislative leaders have been there to help them.