U.S. Supreme Court limits union power in farm-access ruling

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court again tightened the reins on organized labor on Wednesday, declaring in a case brought by two fruit companies that a decades-old California regulation that let union organizers enter agricultural properties without an employer’s consent violated constitutional property rights.

The 6-3 ruling, with the court’s conservative justices in the majority, overturned a 2019 lower court decision throwing out the challenge to the regulation by the companies in the most populous U.S. state. The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision.

The court found that the regulation, which gave union organizers access to the companies’ workers, was akin to the government taking private property for public use without just compensation in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

The challenge was brought by Dorris, California strawberry producer Cedar Point Nursery and Fresno-based Fowler Packing Company, which ships grapes and mandarin oranges. The justices made clear that any limitation on the ability of owners to exclude others from their property without compensation is unconstitutional.

“The access regulation grants labor organizations a right to invade the growers’ property. It therefore constitutes a per se physical taking,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board regulation, in place since 1975, had allowed union organizers, with notice to regulators and the employer, to enter agricultural premises to talk with employees for three non-working hours per day during four 30-day periods each year. The organizers did not require an employer’s consent.

It marked the latest setback for unions at the Supreme Court, which in 2018 ruled in another case that non-members cannot be forced, as they are in certain states, to pay fees to unions representing public employees such as police and teachers that negotiate collective bargaining agreements with employers.

‘PROTECTS EVERYONE’S FREEDOM’

“Today’s ruling is a huge victory for property rights,” said Joshua Thompson, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group that represented the companies.

Cedar Point owner Mike Fahner said, “This decision protects everyone’s freedom to decide for themselves who is – and is not – allowed on their own property.”

The regulation’s defenders had argued that such a sweeping ruling could hurt not just union organizing but also food, factory and social work inspections, or even Border Patrol entries onto private property to enforce immigration laws.

In a dissenting opinion, liberal Justice Stephen Breyer emphasized the temporary nature of the union activity in this case.

“The regulation does not appropriate anything. It does not take from the owners a right to invade (whatever that might mean),” Breyer wrote.

Breyer also said the ruling could undermine other regulations requiring government officials or others to enter a property.

“Most such temporary-entry regulations do not go ‘too far.’ And it is impractical to compensate every property owner for any brief use of their land,” Breyer added.

The two fruit companies had sought to halt enforcement of the regulation. They challenged it after disputes with the United Farm Workers, a union whose history traces back to the famous labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993.

On Twitter, the union said the ruling failed to balance farmers’ property rights with farm workers’ civil rights.

“Farm workers are the hardest-working people in America. This decision denies workers the right to use breaks to freely discuss whether they want to have a union,” it said.

Unions have said the rule in practice afforded them little time to reach workers during the narrow window of seasonal farm work either before or after work. They have said that farm workers often are migrants who change job sites frequently and may not understand English or Spanish, making work site access one of the only ways to inform them of their labor rights.

Both companies called the regulation outdated. They said farm employees are easier to reach than ever, including through smartphones and radio stations, and that nearly all of their 3,000 workers can communicate in English and Spanish.

Organizers disrupted work on Cedar’s property with bullhorns, while Fowler was accused of denying organizers access, drawing a complaint with regulators, according to the lawsuit.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the challenge.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration had backed the companies. Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration reversed the government’s position.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

U.S. Supreme Court leans toward reining in unions in property rights case

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) – Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared ready to further curb the power of organized labor in the United States by rolling back a decades-old California regulation that lets union organizers enter agricultural properties without an employer’s consent.

The justices appeared sympathetic during more than an hour of oral arguments toward an appeal by two fruit companies in the most populous U.S. state seeking to halt enforcement of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board regulation, which has been in place since 1975. The justices wrestled over how far they should go in bolstering the property rights of owners.

A lower court rejected the companies’ argument that the regulation violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment prohibition on the government taking private property for public use without just compensation.

Conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority on the court, seemed to agree that the regulation went too far. Chief Justice John Roberts asked questions that indicated the rule placed few limits on unions. Justice Clarence Thomas wondered how it would be different if the state commandeered a farm to train its police, even if only intermittently.

Liberal justices raised doubts that any regulation like California’s should always be considered unconstitutional, as the companies have asserted. They also expressed concern over how the case might affect other government authority over health and safety.

California, defending the regulation, said that beyond affecting the ability of unions to organize, the case has the potential to reverberate more widely, casting doubt on food, factory and social work inspections, or even Border Patrol entries onto private property to enforce immigration laws.

The Supreme Court in 2018 dealt a big blow to organized labor by ruling that non-members cannot be forced, as they are in certain states, to pay fees to unions representing public employees such as teachers and police that negotiate contracts covering non-unionized workers as well as union members.

The California regulation allows union organizers, with notice to regulators and the employer, to enter agricultural premises to talk with employees for three non-working hours per day during four 30-day periods each year. The organizers do not require an employer’s consent.

Dorris, California strawberry producer Cedar Point Nursery and Fresno-based Fowler Packing Company, which ships grapes and mandarin oranges, said that the regulation is a relic of the past and that farm workers are easier to reach than ever, including through smartphones and radio stations.

Unions have said the rule in practice affords them little time to reach workers during the narrow window of seasonal farm work either before or after work. They have said farm workers often are migrants who change job sites frequently and may not understand English or Spanish, making work site access one of the only ways to inform them of their labor rights.

The businesses said almost all of their 3,000 workers can communicate in English and Spanish.

The companies challenged the regulation after disputes with the United Farm Workers union in 2015. Organizers disrupted work on Cedar’s property with bullhorns, while Fowler was accused of denying organizers access, drawing a complaint with regulators, according to the lawsuit.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the case in 2019.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration had backed the companies in the case, but Democratic President Joe Biden last month informed the justices that the government had switched sides, asserting that the regulation is lawful.

The companies are represented in the case by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)