SACRAMENTO - As members of the United Farm Workers union near the end of their 150-mile march for a bill giving them more negotiating power with growers, California Teachers Association President Wayne Johnson today announced CTA's support for the legislation (SB 1736) and called on the governor to sign it.
"This bill giving farm workers mediation and arbitration rights is the most important farm labor legislation in more than 25 years," Johnson said. "Agricultural laborers who have voted for representation by the UFW have waited for years and years to enjoy the benefits of contracts opposed by growers. For these workers, justice delayed is justice denied."
California farm workers have voted to unionize 428 times in various locations, but growers have signed contracts in only 185 cases as they continue to drag out negotiations. SB 1736 would allow a third-party arbitrator to impose a labor contract when talks deadlock, and provide mandatory mediation rights.
The 10-day UFW "March for the Governor's Signature" began in Merced and ends at noon Sunday with a huge rally on the north steps of the Capitol building in Sacramento. CTA is donating $10,000 to help transport UFW supporters to the rally, Johnson said.
He said the 335,000-member CTA supports SB 1736 not only as a union-worker justice issue, but because it will benefit the children of farm workers as well. Approximately 90 percent of California farm workers have no health coverage, according to the UFW.
"These rights for these workers are long overdue," Johnson said. "The governor should sign this bill."