Unions and OT in Ag Pt 1

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Ag employers face so many challenges when it comes to finding adequate numbers of ag workers, but so-called worker advocates keep piling on.

Attorney Shawn Packer, a principal at JPH Law, says the unionization of ag workers is one of the bigger problems in recent years …

PACKER … “And so that’s the big concern with the card check. That’s why you need to have the secret ballot elections, but again, Congress was very, very smart back in the 1930s as to why they exempted agricultural workers. If agricultural workers are allowed to strike, and leave the

food in the field, who’s going to feed America.”

But Packer says he doesn’t expect to see any big changes …

PACKER … “From the federal perspective, I don’t think we need to change anything. I mean, it’s worked since 1930. You know, it’s the individual states that, you know, have the individual advocates that are in there and they get into somebody’s head and that’s, you know, where California has created their ALRB and whatnot.”

So, from that perspective, Packer says that’s okay …

PACKER … “And I think that’s probably the right way to do it. I mean the states have been left, you know, ostensibly the ability to create these rights and whatnot. It’s just that those rights need to follow similar to what the NLRA and they need to be reciprocal. You know, the employer needs to have rights.”

Tune in tomorrow for another issue facing ag employers, ag overtime.