Whether farm workers in New York have the right to unionize was the subject of a hearing Thursday before Albany Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally.
In October, McNally granted the New York Farm Bureau permission to intervene in the suit (NYLJ, Oct. 25, 2016). The Farm Bureau on Thursday argued that allowing roughly 60,000 farm workers to unionize would devastate New York farms, where work days are dictated largely by weather conditions.
Bond, Schoeneck & King partner Brian Butler, representing the Farm Bureau, also argued that the governor and Legislature not the courts should decide if farm workers can unionize.
When Butler mentioned that several legislative proposals to unionize farm workers have failed, McNally replied, "Doesn't the legislative process need a little shove sometimes?"
New York Civil Liberties Union senior staff attorney Erin Beth Harrist, representing name plaintiff Crispin Hernandez, the Workers' Center of Central New York and the Worker Justice Center of New York, argued that the state constitution permits all workers to organize.
The NYCLU brought the suit, Hernandez v. State of New York, 02143-16, against the state last year (NYLJ, May 11, 2016). It was filed on behalf of Hernandez, a dairy worker who claimed he lost his job at an upstate farm after his employers saw him meeting with other employees to discuss working conditions.
While the state constitution guarantees workers the right to organize without fear of retaliation, a state law exempts farm workers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said his administration would not fight Hernandez's case.
"Because of a flaw in the state labor relations act, farm workers are not afforded the right to organize without fear of retaliation which is unacceptable," he said last year. "We will not tolerate the abuse or exploitation of workers in any industry. This clear and undeniable injustice must be corrected."