California Farm Plans To Appeal Pro-Labor Ruling

(AP) - One of the nation's largest fruit farms says it plans to appeal a ruling by the California Supreme Court that boosted organized farm labor in the state.

Gerawan Farming said Monday that it intends to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.

California's highest court upheld a law that aims to ensure labor contracts for farmworkers whose unions and employers don't agree on wages and other working conditions.

The 2002 law allows California to order unions and farming companies to reach contracts if the sides are at an impasse. A mediator can impose a contract on the employer that sets wages and other working conditions.

The ruling came in a lawsuit pitting Gerawan Farming against the United Farm Workers of America, the union that Cesar Chavez helped launch.

Labor activists say the law prevents employers from stalling labor negotiations to avoid a contract that could benefit farmworkers. Opponents call it government overreach that deprives employers and workers of any say over wages and other terms of employment.