Florida Farm Bureau votes to join agriculture coalition
(Gainesville, Fla.) – The Florida Farm Bureau Federation will join
Agriculture for a Democratic Workplace (ADW), a national coalition of
agriculture associations unified to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act
(EFCA).
The EFCA would amend the National Labor Relations Act to make it easier
for employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations. The EFCA
would also deny workers their right to a secret ballot when deciding
whether or not to be represented by a union. The secret ballot would be
replaced with a card check scheme, which would make an individual
worker’s vote public to his/her employer, union organizers, and
co-workers.
“Together with Farm Bureau and other partners like Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace, ADW aims to communicate to our nation’s leaders
that agricultural workers, employers, and associations will fight to
protect the right to a federally supervised secret ballot when workers
are deciding whether or not to join a union,” said John L. Hoblick,
president of Florida Farm Bureau.
The Florida Farm Bureau Federation executive committee voted unanimously
to join the coalition in accordance with Federation policy, which states
“For the purposes of uniformity, we strongly favor agricultural labor
relations legislation at the national level rather than state
legislation. Any legislation should include safeguards for workers,
employers, and consumers, such as requiring secret ballot elections.”
“We need to be doing things in this country to create jobs, not place
them in jeopardy. This legislation jeopardizes jobs by taking away a
worker's basic right to a secret ballot and an employer’s ability to
negotiate contracts,” said Michelle Williamson, chair of Florida Farm
Bureau’s Labor Advisory Committee.