Hudson Valley farmworker appeals dismissal of bid for UFW removal vote

Bell’s latest submission argues that PERB should not allow blocking charges to stop employee-requested decertification elections. According to the brief filed on his behalf, “the decision is unfounded because nothing in New York’s agricultural labor law or in the PERB’s policy authorizes the use of blocking charges to stop an employee-requested decertification election.”

The brief continues: “The brief argues that the PERB’s policy ‘is punitive, punishing the employees for conduct they cannot control… Employees should be free to choose their representative. Blocking charge delays prevent employees from exercising that right to choose.’”

Bell also claims that this recent denial goes against standards set by PERB itself in an earlier case involving him and other workers. In that previous instance, PERB stated that only certain types of employer misconduct should prevent a decertification vote—and only if it actually affects employees’ ability to make a choice about union representation. Bell’s brief says this standard was ignored: it “failed to analyze the facts of the four charges” and did not show how they could have influenced employees.

Additionally, Bell says he was never given a fair chance by PERB agents either through formal hearings or timely access to information about the union’s blocking charges; thus he could not challenge them before his petition was dismissed.

“Whether at the state or federal level, so-called ‘blocking charge’ policies do the exact same thing: Give union bosses the opportunity to stop the workers they claim to ‘represent’ from exercising their right to have an election they have properly requested,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “In non-Right to Work states like New York, these delays often mean that union officials can continue to siphon dues money from employees who have already expressed substantial interest in voting them out.”

“Mr. Bell and his coworkers’ attempts to vote out the aggressive, politics-obsessed UFW union have been stalled for over a year now, which shows, clearly, how New York’s agricultural labor laws squash workers’ free choice simply to empower union bosses,” Mix added.

Separately, Bell and another farmworker named Jean Estrame are seeking involvement in a federal lawsuit challenging New York State's Farm Laborers' Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA). The suit questions provisions allowing unions like UFW more easily gain power through methods such as card check rather than traditional secret ballot elections.