The end to secret ballots?

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony slipped into the state capital Wednesday to meet with about 300 farmworkers in the basement of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and promote legislation that could dramatically alter how farm-labor unions secure contracts in California.

More than three decades after the state's landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act, a bill in the Legislature could curtail the use of secret ballots when farmworkers vote on union representation. The twist is that the United Farm Workers supports allowing the use of open petitions rather than regular elections, even though founder Cesar E. Chavez fought for secret ballots in the 1970s.

But with some high-profile contract losses in recent years, the new legislation would give workers the option of signing a form supporting union representation or another card that would call for a secret ballot on the issue. If approved and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it would be one of the most dramatic changes to California's agricultural labor law since its inception in 1975.

The UFW now has an advantage in the early stages of union organizing. It has been able to convince farmworkers to authorize elections - but then something changes in the voting booth. The UFW says that's because growers intimidate workers after an election has been called.

California's $32 billion agriculture industry says the change is undemocratic and could lead to the UFW itself intimidating workers to sign the union authorization forms and avoid a secret ballot. Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, called the legislation "unconscionable and almost unbelievable."

"A secret ballot assures a fair vote and accurately reflects the true feelings the workers have," said Dave Kranz with the California Farm Bureau Federation, the largest agricultural lobbying group in the state.

The majority of California farmworkers are thought to be illegal immigrants, said Arturo S. Rodriquez, president of the UFW (pictured with Mahony above), and "there is tremendous pressure put on the workers. People are always being threatened with being reported to the INS. We have workers who migrate and they are threatened with the camps being closed. For them to lose a job or be blacklisted has a tremendous impact on them."

"There are just a lot of subtle things that can create a fear factor," Mahony said. "I think the situation has improved a lot, but a lot of growers do not want an organized workforce and there are various subtle ways they can deal with it. If they recognize someone is a leader, they can terminate them."

The legislation, SB 180, is being carried by state Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), whose political consultant, Richie Ross, also works for the UFW. In an interview, Migden said labor elections are "imperfect situations naturally" but farmworkers still face intimidation from growers between the time an election is authorized and the time they enter the election booth.

The legislation comes as the UFW's power has declined since Chavez's death in 1993. Although it represents workers with about 50 separate contracts, it has lost high-profile elections on farms. Last September, at VBZ Grapes, the union lost almost two to one - 793 votes against a union, 425 for the UFW.

In 1972, Chavez worked to defeat a ballot initiative, Proposition 22, which would have curtailed the use of secret ballots. At the time, he called it a "vicious and dastardly" attack that would have killed the farm-worker union.

Mahony, the former bishop from Fresno, was the first chairman of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. While on the board, Mahony supported the use of symbols - including the UFW's black eagle on a red background - so that illiterate farmers could decide which union to support in elections.

The Los Angeles cardinal also was involved in so-called "card-check" elections throughout California before the secret ballots became law in 1975. "If they are done right, they are very very effective," he said Wednesday. "It gives the workers a complete choice, and they are in charge of that process."

Bedwell, with the Grape & Tree Fruit League, said farmworkers are free to express their true feelings in the ballot box as opposed to facing pressure from the UFW and other labor organizers when presented with the cards. Workers, he said, "may sign an election authorization card for a number of reasons other than support for the union - they may not want to anger the person soliciting them or they may simply want the union representative to leave them alone."

Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the legislation.

(Photos: AP; Robert Salladay/LAT)