Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement in his State of the State speech in February that he didn’t believe California had the resources to complete its $77 billion statewide bullet-train project produced a backlash that Newsom didn’t seem to expect. Within hours after the speech, his aides said the media was inaccurately reporting that Newsom’s only commitment was to build a $12.2 billion, 119-mile high-speed link between Merced and Bakersfield in the Central Valley and nothing more. They said he remained a supporter of the full project.

But nearly two months later, the initial reaction to Newsom’s speech remains the enduring takeaway for most Capitol watchers: He’s off the bullet train bandwagon. Building unions and green lawmakers who believe in the statewide project’s potential to help in the fight against climate change remain among the most upset.

Yet easily the most intense reaction is in the area where Newsom still wants the project to proceed: the Central Valley.

Coverage from The Bakersfield Californian, the Los Angeles Times and small newspapers in the region reflect anger over how the valley has been treated. Valuable farmland and family homes have been acquired with eminent domain for a project that no longer will link the area with the rest of the state – despite promises from Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown.

‘My mouth was just open with shock’

“I don’t want to talk political because I don’t do it very well,” Fairmead resident Vickie Ortiz told the Times. “But you know, you had a governor that was pushing-pushing-pushing for the high-speed train, and we started getting used to the idea that we can’t stop a train but maybe we can use it to help the community. But then you get another governor and he says: ‘No, I don’t want to do that any more.’ My mouth was just open with shock.”

In the Antelope Valley Press, retiree Bill Deaver, a former official in the Federal Railroad Administration, blasted the “politics and ignorance” of project critics who he blamed for Newsom’s decision.

“Politicians used [high-speed rail] to score political points rather than supporting something that will be able to handle huge increases in traffic projected in coming years. That sort of behavior is one of the biggest barriers to progress.”

Newsom’s decision didn’t surprise some in the Central Valley who never believed a statewide bullet train would get built. “People lost their homes and businesses. And for what?” Visalia farmer Randy Van Eyk told the Times.

Some see commitment to help region

But other remarks the governor made about the Central Valley have resonated more positively – and created an expectation that he will do more than past governors to help the region.

“The people of the Central Valley endure the worst air pollution in America as well as some of the longest commutes. And they have suffered too many years of neglect from policymakers here in Sacramento. They deserve better,” Newsom said in the same speech in which he outlined his views on the bullet-train project’s future.

Bakersfield Californian columnist Robert Price said if Newsom was serious, he should help Kern County diversify its economy away from “two industries under assault in the Central Valley: agriculture and, especially, oil and gas.”

Anna Smith, another columnist for the Californian, also said Newsom should promote economic diversification. But she also called on him to address the Central Valley’s social ills, including “high rates of illiteracy and obesity, lack of access to quality education and health care (especially in rural communities), water contamination and extreme poverty.”

Senate Bill 25, authored by outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, passed the Senate and Assembly along party lines. Yesterday it was enrolled and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. There’s no indication yet what he’ll do.

It allows either side in an agricultural labor dispute to enforce a state-written labor contract even when the other side is appealing it. The only exception is if the appellant can demonstrate by “clear and convincing evidence” that there would be irreparable harm from enforcing the contract and that the appeal would likely succeed.

One of SB25’s fiercest opponents is Dan Gerawan, whose Gerawan Farming has battled the United Farm Workers Union off and on for nearly a quarter century. His Fresno-based company is one of the state’s largest producers of peaches, plums, apricots and table grapes, employing about 5,000 workers during the peak harvest season.

Gerawan believes SB25 is aimed at his company, forcing it to immediately abide by a labor contract that was written by a state mediator after the company failed to come to an agreement with the UFW.

“Our labor contract is written by the state of California,” he said. “That is extreme enough that something like that even exists. Now with SB25 that so-called labor contract is implemented even without judicial review.”

Calculated pro-labor power play

Steinberg acknowledges that his bill is intended to empower unions like the UFW in labor disputes with agricultural companies.

“I think inherent in the dispute here is how one views the balance of power,” he told the Assembly Judiciary Committee July 2, 2013. “We honor Cesar Chavez with a state holiday. He is a hero to most Californians.

“We celebrate his life in large part because there is an inherent imbalance between large, powerful employers and poor farm workers. A poor worker doesn’t have the ability to assert himself alone. But with the power of the collective, of the union, they have that ability to be an equal and countervailing force to the employer.”

But there’s a question whether the Gerawan workers want to be represented by the UFW, which would collect 3 percent of their paycheck in union dues; and whether they want to be forced to abide by the state-mediated contract.

The company, which markets itself under the Prima brand, touts on its website that its wages exceed the industry average with an $11 per hour base rate for field workers, while grape packers exceed $15 per hour on average.

Benefits for workers exceeding 1,200 hours per year include vacation and retirement pay. Other benefits include paid compensation for the Latino workers who want to take English classes, and tuition reimbursement and student loans for employees’ children.

“The workers are net losers under this ‘agreement,’ as the 3 percent dues or fees deduction ordered by the [Agricultural Labor Relations] Board is more than the 2.5 percent pay increase ordered in the contract,” said Gerawan via email. “The union will be enriched at the expense of the workers.”

On Oct. 25, 2013, Gerawan worker Sylvia Lopez filed a petition with the ALRB to hold an election to decertify the UFW as the workers’ representative. The election was held Nov. 5, 2013.

But the ballots were impounded and not counted due to numerous objections filed against the election. The UFW filed 32 objections, most of them alleging employer misconduct, according to the ALRB. Gerawan Farming and Lopez filed 20 objections alleging misconduct by the UFW and the mishandling of the election by the ALRB.

Gerawan workers back management, not union

The ALRB has scheduled a hearing to consider the objections on Sept. 17.

Gerawan workers have expressed frustration with the delay. On Aug. 26, more than a thousand Gerawan workers wearing shirts saying “Count Our Votes!” on the front and the First Amendment on the back marched in front of the ALRB office in Visalia, according to Gotnews.com.

“At the time of the decertification election, the employees knew the contents of the so-called contract when they voted,” said Gerawan. “So it is wrong for ALRB to displace the employees’ desires with ALRB’s and UFW’s dictates.”

The UFW sees the dispute quite differently. UFW President Arturo Rodriguez’s Labor Day message targeted Gerawan Farming:

“On Labor Day, when millions of Americans celebrate labor, workers at Gerawan Farming should be getting extra holiday pay. But they’re not because their employer, one of the biggest grape and tree fruit growers in America with over 5,000 workers, refuses to honor a union contract issued by a neutral state mediator—after Gerawan refused to negotiate one with the workers’ union, the United Farm Workers.

“Gerawan workers also didn’t get extra holiday pay on Labor Day last year. Or on other holidays such as July 4th of this year. By refusing to honor the contract, Gerawan is getting out of paying its workers millions of dollars. Prosecutors for the state of California have filed four complaints—like indictments—against Gerawan for breaking the law, that includes refusing to negotiate in good faith and refusing to honor the state-issued contract.

“Gerawan needs to be made to obey the law and honor the workers’ union contract. Then thousands of Gerawan workers can get their extra holiday pay on Labor Day—plus all the other pay raises and benefits from the contract.”

The bad blood between Gerawan Farming and the UFW goes back to 1990, when the UFW won an election to represent Gerawan workers. But after one bargaining session, the union left and didn’t return for 20 years.

“The union has repeatedly refused to explain the 20-year absence, saying it has no obligation to explain it,” according to a Gerawan press release.

The UFW doesn’t explain its absence in its website discussion of the dispute, but does charge that “Gerawan attempted unsuccessfully to have the election thrown out, and the state of California found that Gerawan illegally fired a crew of workers for supporting the union and unlawfully closed down six of its farm labor camps in retaliation for workers backing the UFW.”

Millions of dollars hang in the balance

Charges and countercharges have flown back and forth between the two sides in the press, before the ALRB and in the judicial system. Millions of dollars are at stake, according to Rodriguez and former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso in a recent op-ed in the Fresno Bee:

“California lets workers call in neutral state mediators to hammer out contracts when growers refuse to sign them. Under the contract terms set by the mediator — not the UFW — in May, the majority of Gerawan employees would have received approximately $1,074 each, retroactive to July 2013. This was to cover paid holidays and wage increases reflecting a 54-hour workweek.

“The new contract also would have handed other Gerawan workers a 2.5% wage increase, also retroactive to July 2013, plus 5% pay hikes in 2014 and 2015. For approximately 5,000 farm-workers, those back wages and benefits would have conservatively translated into many millions of dollars, just covering July 2013 to May 2014. Going forward, the contract would produce many millions of dollars more for workers over its duration.”

Gerawan believes California politics and SB25 have stacked the deck against agricultural employers in resolving labor disputes.

“The picture is this: you have got a labor board staffed with political appointees,” he said. “Three board members appointed by the governor and counsel appointed by the governor.

“[If SB25 becomes law] they have the right to write a labor contract, impose it and make it effective immediately with no judicial overview. This is huge. With SB25 no judge will even have a chance to look at it.”

He was supported by Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, at the July 2013 Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing.

“We have a circumstance where a union has essentially done nothing for 20 years,” said Wagner. “We do rightly applaud Cesar Chavez. But I don’t want to confuse what we’re celebrating. The point of these labor laws is not to protect the union. The union is a vehicle to protect the works who deserve the protection.

“I’m hearing about these [Gerawan employees] who are worried about being disenfranchised under this bill. I‘m wondering why we have to turn contract law on its head … maybe merely to help the union.”