Agriculture Groups Hail Supreme Court Decision Limiting Union Access
Western Growers, the California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA), and AmericanHort were among the agricultural organizations lauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid. The Court held that under California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA), access by union organizers to come onto the private property of farmers and landowners to promote the union violates the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
According to Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the opinion, “unlike a mere trespass, the regulation grants a formal entitlement to physically invade the growers’ land. Unlike a law enforcement search, no traditional background principle of property law requires the growers to admit union organizers onto their premises. And unlike standard health and safety inspections, the access regulation is not germane to any benefit provided to agricultural employers or any risk posed to the public.”
CFFA President Ian LeMay said the ruling involving Cedar Point Nursery and CFFA member Fowler Packing protects the constitutional rights of agricultural employers and brings the ALRA access rule into alignment with the National Labor Relations Act.
“For 45 years, California’s farmers have seen their property rights ignored by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board by allowing organizers onto their property. No other industry in the United States, including California, has had to allow union organizers onto their property in a similar manner,” he said. “We appreciate both Fowler Packing and Cedar Point’s efforts in leading the fight to restore the same property rights that are enjoyed by all other industries in the United States, to California farmers.”
Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia emphasized that the decision was a simple case of property rights.
“States cannot take private property without just compensation, and property owners have the fundamental right to exclude trespassers,” Puglia said. “We applaud the Supreme Court for protecting the notion of private property rights as envisioned in our Constitution. We also commend Cedar Point Nursery, Fowler Packing Company and the Pacific Legal Foundation team for seeing this case through to its unequivocal conclusion.”
In the 6-3 decision, split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court Wednesday struck down as unconstitutional the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board regulation that permits union organizers to enter a farmer’s property to solicit employees about supporting a union.
The Court found that the access regulation clearly creates a right to invade the grower’s property and therefore is a physical taking of property. Roberts reasoned that by giving union organizers “a right to physically enter and occupy the grower’s land for three hours per day, 120 days per year,” the access regulation takes away the owner’s right to exclude others from the property – which is one of the most important rights of owning property.
The lawsuit was brought by Cedar Point Nursery, a northern California strawberry grower, and Fowler Packing Co., a Fresno-based grapes and citrus shipper, in federal court. The companies challenged access regulation, arguing that by giving the union organizers access to their property, the regulation created a legal right to use the property without their consent and without compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. The lower courts sided with the state, but the two companies, represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, persuaded the Supreme Court to hear the case. Western Growers filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of the companies, which was joined by CFFA, the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, and the Ventura County Agricultural Association.
Pacific Legal Foundation represented the businesses at the Supreme Court, arguing that when the government allows a third party onto someone else’s private property without compensating the property owners, it violates their property rights.
“Today’s ruling is a huge victory for property rights,” said Pacific Legal Foundation senior attorney Joshua Thompson, who argued the case before the Court. “(The) decision affirms that one of the most fundamental aspects of property is the right to decide who can and can’t access your property. Pacific Legal Foundation is proud to have represented Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company at the Supreme Court.”
“The Supreme Court was very clear that any intrusion on a landowner’s property rights would be considered a taking and would require just compensation for such,” according to a statement from AmericanHort. “The ALRB could rewrite the regulation requiring such from the labor organizations, or they could rewrite the regulation more narrowly to try and conform with the SCOTUS decision (a much harder task given the conclusiveness of the decision). In the short term, it is clear that labor organizations will no longer be given access to agricultural employers’ property under this regulation. What remains to be seen is the stance the Board takes and if they want to include a calculation for just compensation in whatever updated regulation they craft.”
According to PLF, in the predawn hours of October 29, 2015, dozens of union activists trespassed on Cedar Point Nursery’s property to recruit union members. They waved flags, shouted over bullhorns, intimidated the nursery’s staff, and disrupted the workday. When the nursery’s owner and president Mike Fahner found out the action was legal in California, he decided to fight what he believed was an unconstitutional law.
“This decision protects everyone’s freedom to decide for themselves who is — and is not — allowed on their own property,” Fahner said Wednesday. “We’re very happy with the Court’s ruling today, and we’re excited to keep running our businesses without unlawful interference.”
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