“In the state with the largest population of farmworkers,” said the president, “the least we owe them is an easier path to make a free and fair choice to organize a union.”
Labor organizers in California and across the country welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s “unexpected and powerful” endorsement of the state’s pending legislation to make it easier for farmworkers to unionize—a bill that’s sitting on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
While Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year and a spokesperson recently suggested he may do the same with Assembly Bill 2183, Biden’s statement on the eve of Labor Day increases pressure on the governor—whom the president supported during a failed 2021 recall attempt.
“I strongly support California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act (A.B. 2183), which will give California’s agricultural workers greater opportunity to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions,” Biden said.
“Farmworkers worked tirelessly and at great personal risk to keep food on America’s tables during the pandemic,” he continued. “In the state with the largest population of farmworkers, the least we owe them is an easier path to make a free and fair choice to organize a union. I am grateful to California’s elected officials and union leaders for leading the way.”
While the California Chamber of Commerce and agriculture industry groups oppose A.B. 2183, the bill is backed by the United Farm Workers (UFW), which says the measure is intended to protect farmworkers from supervisor intimidation during union elections.
“Farmworkers are grateful,” UFW president Teresa Romero said of Biden’s endorsement. “¡Sí se puede!”
Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who left the state Assembly earlier this year to serve as chief officer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, declared Sunday night that it is “time to sign the bill.”