In honor of Cesar Chavez Day last week, several Democratic lawmakers gathered at a United Farm Workers rally at the Capitol. The labor union organized the event in support of AB 2183 by Asm. Mark Stone of Monterey Bay.
The measure revives a vote-by-mail provision UFW championed in last year’s AB 616, which Gov. Gavin Newsom ultimately vetoed. Farm groups, along with workers from Duarte Nursery in Stanislaus County, worried that loosening restrictions on secret ballot elections amounted to card check and would lead to abuses.
Stone told Agri-Pulse he is working closely with the governor’s office on the bill and shared with the UFW demonstrators that he was confident the bill would gain Newsom’s signature.
“This bill has my name on it, but it is your bill,” Stone told the labor group.
Frustrated that Newsom did not meet with the group last week, UFW announced plans to re-create this summer its 1966 march from Delano to the Capitol.
