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Old 09-30-2010, 10:51 PM
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Ayatollahgondola Ayatollahgondola is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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Default Farmworkers Election Trump Card Gets Veto

This one was a sure lose I thought, but in California, one never knows. Good sense prevailed, but apparently only at the executive level.

Quote:
To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am returning Senate Bill (SB) 1474 without my signature.
This bill would require the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) to set aside an election
in which there has been misconduct by the employer that affected the outcome of the election
and require the ALRB to certify a labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if
it had been established that at least 50 percent of the employees to be represented signed
authorization cards prior to the election.
Currently, the ALRB has the authority to set aside an election, based on objections by either the
employer or the labor organization, and order a rerun election if a new election would further the
purpose of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act.
The provisions of SB 1474 represent a serious departure from existing law. The provisions of
this bill tip the scale in favor of the union by only allowing the ALRB to consider any
misconduct, which is not defined, by the employer when making the determination to set aside
the election, but does not take into consideration the possibility that the employer may have
similar allegations of election misconduct by the labor organization. This remedy should only be
allowed in cases where the ALRB finds the possibility of erasing the effects of past unfair labor
practices and of ensuring a fair election is slight, and that employee sentiment once expressed
through cards would, on balance, be better protected by a bargaining order.
Finally, in order for me to sign a bill that alters the secret ballot election, the provisions
governing a certification election should also govern a decertification election. Overturning and
reversing secret ballot election results should not be taken lightly and may be appropriate in only
the most egregious cases.
For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
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