Mandatory mediation changes rules for negotiating farm labor contracts

Martin, P; Mason, B

Mandatory mediation changes rules for negotiating farm labor contracts

Authors

Philip Martin
Bert Mason

Authors Affiliations

P. Martin is Professors of Agricultural Economics, UC Davis and California State University, Fresno, respectively. Mason was an ALRB board member from 1999 to 2002; B. Mason is Professors of Agricultural Economics, UC Davis and California State University, Fresno, respectively. Mason was an ALRB board member from 1999 to 2002. A shorter version of this article appeared in the November-December 2002 issue of ARE Update, newsletter of UC's Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.

Publication Information

Hilgardia 57(1):13-17. DOI:10.3733/ca.v057n01p13. January 2003.

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Abstract

In September 2002, Governor Gray Davis signed the first major amendments to the 1975 Agri-cultural Labor Relations Act in 27 years. Under these amendments, if a farm employer and certified union are unable to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement within 6 months, a mediator can impose an agreement. The number of contracts in California agriculture has declined precipitously since the mid-1980s, and we are skeptical that mandatory mediation will sharply increase the number of workers employed on farms under collective bargaining agreements.

References

[ALRB] Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Letter from ALRB chair Genevieve Shiroma to state Senator Michael J. Machado, May 1. 2002. http://are150.ucdavis.edu.8p.

[EDD] California Employment Development Department. 2002. Employment by industry data, www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/htmlfile/subject/INDSIZE.HTM .

Martin PL, Ong P, Lincoln J. Labor relations in California agriculture. The State of California Labor. UC Institute for Labor and Employment. 2001. 105-22. www.ucop.edu/ile.

Martin PL, Egan DL. The make-whole remedy in California agriculture. Industrial Labor Relations Rev. 1989. 43(1):120-31. https://doi.org/10.2307/2523215

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