Tri-Fanucchi Farms v. Agricultural Labor Rel. Bd.
Annotate this CaseFanucchi employees elected UFW to be their exclusive bargaining representative, but no bargaining occurred between 1988 and 2012. In 2012, UFW requested the recommencement of bargaining and Fanucchi refused. The Board upheld the determinations of the ALJ that (i) abandonment and similar equitable theories were not available as defenses to the duty to bargain under the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, Lab. Code, section 1140 et seq., and (ii) make whole relief was appropriate under the circumstances. The court affirmed the Board's position that UFW's past conduct indicating abandonment did not create a defense to bargaining or excuse Fanucchi from its obligation as employer to bargain in good faith with UFW. In this case, the appropriate remedy for UFW's past dereliction is in the hands of the agricultural employees themselves. If the employees do not wish to be represented by UFW, their recourse is to replace or decertify UFW by a new election pursuant to sections 1156.3 or 1156.7. Accordingly, the court reversed the portion of the Board's decision which imposed make whole relief, but affirmed the balance of the Board's decision.
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