Posts tagged agricultural workers
Commentary: California’s War on Goats Could Worsen the Wildfire Crisis
July 30, 2026 // State lawmakers intervened by passing legislation to allow goat herders to be paid the same alternative minimum as sheep herders until July 1, 2026. Now that the exemption has expired, goat herders must be paid according to traditional overtime rules. Given the 24/7 availability required for herding, this means that Golden State goat herders are now set to be paid $20,000 per month, which works out to $240,000 annually. (For comparison, California Gov. Gavin Newsom's salary currently sits at $245,000). An effort to extend the goat herding exemption beyond 2026 stalled in the state legislature due to opposition from labor unions. Goat-herding businesses have been left scrambling. Western Grazers, a company that deploys roughly 5,000 goats across Northern California, says the new rules push the annual cost of employing each herder above $250,000 once room and board, food, and other expenses are included.
St. Louis marijuana workers win union vote after two-year ballot fight
May 21, 2026 // Agricultural workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, the federal law that protects most private-sector employees' right to unionize without fear of retaliation. "We agree with the regional [NLRB] director, for the reasons provided in her decision, that none of the workers employed in the classifications at issue here are agricultural laborers under the secondary definition of agriculture," the national board members wrote.
Halted: Federal Judge Stops Enforcement of New York’s ‘NLRB Trigger Bill’
December 5, 2025 // New York federal judge granted Amazon’s bid for a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of recent amendments to the Empire State’s State Employment Relations Act (“SERA”) that would have subjected most private-sector employers within the state to the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”). Prior to passage of the “NLRB Trigger Bill” that amended SERA, PERB, which enforces state labor law, mainly oversaw public-sector employers in New York, though it also regulates labor relations for private-sector employers where federal laws – such as the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) – do not apply, such as for agricultural workers. SERA, generally, applies more employee-friendly standards than the NLRA.
Does federal marijuana prohibition mean cannabis workers can’t unionize?
September 19, 2025 // That’s what so-called “trigger laws” in California, New York and Massachusetts call for: allowing workers to petition state labor-relations entities if the NLRB cannot function. That could work against cannabis companies in such blue states. In contrast, it would be a boon for anti-unionization efforts in states with weak labor laws such as Missouri, where the cannabis industry is doing comparatively well compared to other states. It’s not clear what might happen next in Michigan, where Democratic lawmakers repealed anti-union “right-to-work” laws in 2024.
Jennifer Abruzzo Wants Workers to Fight Back
May 14, 2025 // On May 5, Workday Magazine interviewed Abruzzo, who has since returned to the Communications Workers of America, as a senior advisor to the president. We talked about how protected concerted activity can include Gaza protests, why it’s a shame that domestic workers and farm workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, and what workers can do to fight back in the Trump era. “It’s up to the people to actually use their power and flex their muscles in order to get the changes that they deem are appropriate,” she says, “so that they can live the lives that they deserve with dignity and respect.
State of the unions: 8 facts you need to know about unions in Colorado
August 8, 2024 // Colorado is a modified “right to work” state because, under the state’s Labor Peace Act, workplaces with unions may hold a second election to become an all-union workplace. If at least 75% of eligible workers approve its Labor Peace Act election, the workplace becomes all-union, meaning every worker must join the union and pay dues. The act was passed in 1943 as a compromise between unions and business owners. In 2023 and 2024 to date, nine Labor Peace Act elections have been held — six won and three lost, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute.
New protections empower H-2A agricultural workers to organize
June 27, 2024 // DOL’s new rule becomes effective on June 28. However, according to the agency, H-2A applications filed before Aug. 28, 2024, will be processed according to previously applicable federal regulations, and applications submitted on or after Aug. 29 will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the new Farmworker Protection Rule
VERMONT: Phil Scott allows ‘ghost guns,’ union organizing bills to become law without his signature
June 5, 2024 // To allow a bill to go into law without a signature is a middle-ground approach available to the governor — in between striking it down with a veto and endorsing it with a signature. Scott holds the record for issuing the most gubernatorial vetoes in state history: 46. “One concern with the bill is the potential to adversely impact the employer-employee relationship by limiting an employer’s ability to communicate their point of view on a range of issues, including the advantages and disadvantages of unionization,” he wrote. Scott in his letter also said he is “concerned that S.102 is a slippery slope to future disruptions in the employee-employer relationship in agriculture, domestic services and independent contracting as well as any local businesses and non-profits working solely within state lines.”
St. Louis-area cannabis workers win the right to review ballots in union election
March 28, 2024 // Up until now, it wasn’t clear if the post-harvest workers would be excluded as agricultural workers, he said, which has pushed unions to focus more on dispensary workers. While the regional director’s decisions in this case haven’t set a national precedent, it could lead to one. The company has 10 business days after the votes are counted and the election result is certified to file an appeal, asking the national five-member board appointed by the president to review the election results and the regional director’s decisions. A decision from the board in the BeLeaf case would set a national precedent and have a wide-ranging impact, Toppel said.
Trulieve cannabis agricultural workers in Phoenix vote to unionize
February 2, 2024 //