<p> Earlier this week, Gerawan Farming asked the California Court of Appeal (5th District) in Fresno, CA to review the constitutionality of the “Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation” statute, which dictates a binding, collective bargaining agreement between an employer and a union. A hearing date has not yet been set for this matter.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> To illustrate just how extreme the contract is, co-owner Dan Gerawan tells AndNowUKnow, “Our employees have gone on strike twice to protest the union and labor board. If this contract is ever imposed on them, it will actually <I>prohibit</i> them from doing those strikes again.” Gerawan says that the company supports the employees’ right to strike, but the contract written by the state will prohibit it.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> If the Court does not strike down the law as unconstitutional, Gerawan asks that the agreement written by the arbitrator not be enforced because the company should not have been compelled into the MMC process in the first place, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Although federal and state labor laws allow unions and employers the freedom to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, the United Farm Workers held no negotiations because it had disappeared for twenty years. The UFW has refused to explain its absence. Since its re-appearance, the UFW proposed in bargaining sessions that employees be required to pay 3% of their wages to the UFW or be fired, despite the fact that it had done nothing for the employees.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “We don’t think that it is right, fair, or consistent with the purposes of consensual collective bargaining in one of our State’s most important industries to allow an absentee union to dictate whether our employees can keep their jobs,” said Gerawan.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> In a separate proceeding pending in Fresno Superior Court, Gerawan is challenging a decision by the Board which excludes its workers from attending, or even silently observing, “on the record” proceedings where the arbitrator determined the terms of the contract. A hearing on this matter is scheduled for February 20, 2014.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue our coverage on the ongoing disputes between Gerawan Farming and the United Farm Workers.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.prima.com/news" target="_new"> Gerawan Farming </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
