**Visalia, CA (April 21, 2006)** – California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) prosecutors have issued a formal complaint against the United Farm Workers (UFW) union for misrepresentations, illegal threats, and unlawful dues demands against California Mushroom employees.
The complaint stems from unfair labor practice charges brought by a pair of California Mushroom (formerly PictSweet Mushroom Farms) workers in early March 2004 alleging that UFW union officials unlawfully demanded and/or collected full union dues from their paychecks, and threatened dissenting workers with a loss of health benefits if they refused to sign dues check-off authorization cards.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Guillermo Virgen and Gerardo Mendoza filed the class-action charges on behalf of roughly 400 workers employed by California Mushroom. Aside from unlawful dues collections and threats, the union hierarchy also failed to inform thousands of laborers statewide that they have the right to certain procedural protections to assure that their forced union dues do not finance activities unrelated to collective bargaining.

In accordance with the formal complaint received this week, the ALRB is demanding that UFW union officials inform California Mushroom employees of their right to refrain from paying full union dues, to provide the workers with an audit of the union’s books, and to establish and provide procedures by which the employees can challenge the amount of forced dues the union deducts from their paychecks.

“This ruling stalls UFW union officials’ all-out offensive on California agricultural employees’ rights,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The union hierarchy’s repeated refusal to respect the workers’ basic freedoms shows a clear disdain, not only for the employees that they claim to represent, but also for the rule of law.”

The ALRB formal complaint states that UFW union officials intentionally misled workers by claiming all workers in the bargaining unit were required to pay full union dues as a condition of employment. The Board also found that UFW union officials unlawfully failed to inform employees of their rights to object to paying for non-collective bargaining activities, such as politics, and the right to challenge the union’s fee calculations before an impartial decision-maker.

Additionally, union officials demanded that workers sign dues check-off cards authorizing the automatic deduction of full union dues from their paychecks to keep their jobs. UFW officials then threatened workers with firings and loss of benefits if they failed to pay full dues and sign payroll deduction authorization cards. The actions of UFW union officials not only violated the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, but also unlawfully infringed on constitutional rights recognized in several Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.