After more than a month of deliberation, a Kern County Superior Court judge sided with Wonderful and issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting the contentious bargaining process between the agricultural giant and the state's largest farmworker union.

In his ruling Thursday, Judge Bernard C. Berman said Wonderful's lawsuit against the state's relatively new farmworker organizing system “is likely to succeed” and that Wonderful would face irreparable harm if it allowed the United Farm Workers to unionize its nursery workers before the ruling is made.

“The Court finds that, given the constitutional rights at issue in this case, the public interest favors a preliminary injunction,” Judge Berman wrote in a 21-page decision. Wonderful has “met its burden that a preliminary injunction should be issued until the matter has fully progressed to substantive hearing.”

Wonderful, a $6 billion agricultural giant owned by husband and wife Stewart and Linda Resnick, sued the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board in May, challenging the constitutionality of the state's so-called card check system, which Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted into law in 2022. Under the system's provisions, unions can organize workers by asking farmworkers to sign authorization cards at off-site meetings, without notifying the employer, rather than by secret voting at designated polling places.

Union organizers had been pushing for changes to the card check law, arguing that the secret ballot system leaves workers fearful of retaliation from employers.

But great, portfolio The company, whose brands include FIJI Water and POM Wonderful, argues in its lawsuit that the law deprives employers of due process in several ways, including by forcing them to enter into collective bargaining agreements even if they formally challenge the ALRB's certification of a union vote and present evidence that they believe the voting process was fraudulent.

The preliminary injunction marks the latest development in a bitter dispute over the UFW's unionization drive at Wonderful Nurseries in Wasco, the nation's largest grape nursery.

In late February, the UFW filed a petition with the Labor Relations Board, arguing that the majority of the nursery's more than 600 farmworkers had signed authorization cards and asking that the UFW be recognized as union representative.

Days later, Wonderful accused the UFW of luring farmworkers into signing authorization cards under the false pretense of helping them apply for $600 in federal aid for farmworkers who worked during the pandemic. The company also submitted nearly 150 signed declarations from nursery workers who said they didn't understand that by signing the cards they were voting to unionize.

The UFW countered that Wonderful intimidated workers into making false statements and then manipulated their feelings in the weeks that followed by hiring a labor consultant with a reputation as a union buster.

The ALRB acknowledged receiving the workers’ declarations from Wonderful, but the labor board’s regional director nevertheless certified the union’s petition three days later. She said in a subsequent hearing that she felt she needed to act quickly in accordance with deadlines set by the card check law and that she did not believe the law gave her the authority to investigate allegations of wrongdoing at the time.

Wonderful appealed the ALRB's certification.

As required by the card check law, while Wonderful's appeal of its certification was going through the ALRB's administrative hearing process, the UFW continued to move forward with its efforts to negotiate with the company on behalf of child care workers. The ALRB issued a ruling last week ordering Wonderful to enter into mandatory mediation to reach a collective bargaining agreement.

In its lawsuit filed in May, Wonderful challenged the constitutionality of the card check system on several grounds, including that the company's due process rights were violated when the labor board sought to certify the UFW's petition before investigating the company's claims of voting fraud, and more broadly, that the card check system does not have adequate safeguards to ensure the accuracy of the voting process.

The company has asked a judge to halt unionization efforts at its daycare centers and the ALRB's administrative hearing process while the lawsuit proceeds in Kern County Court.

In a statement Thursday evening, Wonderful Nurseries President Rob Irresistible said the company was “pleased” with the court's decision to suspend the certification process until the constitutionality of the card check law can be “fully and appropriately considered.”

“Furthermore, farmworkers have been unfairly prohibited from challenging the union that was forced upon them. This ruling makes it clear that Wonderful has a position to fight to ensure that farmworkers' constitutional rights, including due process and First Amendment rights, are not violated,” Irresistible said.

UFW spokeswoman Elizabeth Strater said the ruling “ignores 89 years of labor law precedent” and indicated the union would appeal the decision to grant the injunction.

“There is already a process in place to address election fraud, and Wonderful was in the middle of that process. Why would Wonderful want to stop that process and silence farmworkers so that their voices are not heard?” Strater said. “It's clear that Wonderful is using its vast resources to deny farmworkers their rights.”

In a May 30 filing, the state asked the court to deny Wonderful's request for an injunction. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, arguing for the ALRB, said Wonderful had failed to prove that the card check law caused “irreparable harm or the likelihood of disenfranchisement.” Bonta also argued that the higher court lacked jurisdiction in the case.

ALRB Executive Director Santiago Avila Gomez said Thursday night that the agency is carefully reviewing the ruling and will refrain from making any further comment at this time.

Meanwhile, the UFW has pursued its own legal action against Wonderful. The union has filed a formal unfair labor practice complaint with the ALRB, accusing Wonderful of forcing employees to attend “captive audience” meetings to encourage them to reject UFW representation. ALRB general counsel Julia Montgomery filed the indictment-like complaint in April, alleging that Wonderful committed unfair labor practices by illegally helping draft a declaration that revoked employees' authorization cards.

The company mainly He denied the charges.

This article is from The Times Fairness Reporting Initiative, Funded James Irvine FoundationInvestigate the challenges facing low-income workers and efforts to address them. Economic inequality in California.