April 17, 2015: Farm Labor and the ALRA at 40

Friday, April 17, 2015
Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom, UC Davis Law School

Summary Report

"The greatest accomplishment of my Administration was the enactment of a farm labor relations law." Jerry Brown, California Governor, 1975-1983 and 2010-

The Agricultural Labor Relations Act was signed into law June 5, 1975, after a decade of tumult in the fields at a time when California had farm sales of $7.3 billion ($34 billion in 2012) and spent $1.2 billion on farm labor or 16 percent of sales. Today, farm sales are $43 billion and farm labor costs $9.3 billion or 22 percent of sales, reflecting the increased importance of labor-intensive commodities. In 1975, there were five or six representation elections a day on farms, compared to one in all of 2013. Major ALRB activities have changed from elections to mandatory mediation and conciliation on farms where unions were certified to represent workers in some cases decades ago.

Farm labor and farm labor law have changed over the past four decades. This conference examines changes in the farm labor market and changes in farm labor relations over the past 40 years.

The conference will be at the UCD Law School, which is located near the South Entry Parking Structure on the UCD campus. If you exit I-80 on the UC-Davis exit, the South Entry Parking Structure is on the right just after the Mondavi winery complex. Parking costs $9, and the machine dispensing tickets takes cash or credit cards. After parking, walk past the Mondavi center, cross Putah creek, and the Law School is on your left. Click here for additional directions.

We have reserved rooms for participants at the Hyatt Place Hotel on the UCD campus, which is just past the South Entry Parking Structure. The Hyatt has free parking and breakfast for guests. Please make reservation by March 16, 2015 on the Hyatt website or by calling 530-756-9500 using the code ALRA at 40 or following the link below; the rate is $147 plus tax.

There is no charge to participate in the conference, but seating is limited and you must RSVP before April 14, 2015. Click here to register.

The papers presented at the conference, and a summary of the discussion, will be available at http://migration.ucdavis.edu/. We are grateful to the ALRB, the Giannini and Rosenberg Foundations, the Gifford Center, and the Immigrant Law Association and La Raza for their support of this conference.

For further information, contact Philip Martin.

Agenda

8:15 AM: Registration Check-in and Continental Breakfast

8:45 AM: Welcome. Philip Martin, UC Davis, and William B. Gould IV, ALRB

9:00 AM: Agriculture and Farm Labor Since 1975. Chair: Bert Mason, CSUF

11:00 AM: Break

11:15 AM: The ALRA & ALRB Since 1975. Chair: Genevieve Shiroma, ALRB

12:30 PM: Lunch

2:00 PM: New Issues: MMC and Immigration. Chair: William B. Gould IV, ALRB

3:30 PM: Break

3:45 PM: Perspectives Past and Present. Chair: Cathryn Rivera-Hernandez, ALRB

Closing Remarks. Philip Martin, UC Davis, and William B. Gould IV, ALRB

5:00 PM: Adjourn

Related

United Farm Workers (UFW) Contracts