Judge confirms contract for apple pickers at Wayne County farm

A Wayne County judge last week confirmed a previously awarded union contract for H2-A farm workers at Wafler Farms, representing the second United Farm Workers contract to be implemented in New York.

While the ruling represents a key victory for the agricultural workers’ union, Wafler’s farm workers have completed this year’s apple-picking season, unsure whether the farm will honor the contract awarded earlier this year by the state’s Public Employment Relations Board. 

Now, labor organizers with UFW are calling for back wages and benefits for Walfer’s workers, as some look to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

“I’m not even in my own home,” says Owen Salmon, a Jamaican farm worker at Wafler Farms. “I came (back to Jamaica) just over a month (ago), and I’m still at the shelter. I haven’t gone anywhere to stay yet.”

UFW was certified to represent Wafler Farm’s agricultural workers, including seasonal and H-2A workers, in 2023, and sought arbitration with the PERB after continued delays in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.

Last December saw Wafler Farms file an Article 78 petition with the Wayne County Supreme Court challenging UFW’s certification of Wafler’s farmworkers in an effort to stay arbitration hearings. The PERB, though initially granting that stay in January, proceeded on arbitration later that month and awarded UFW a collective bargaining agreement in February.

Further challenges by Wafler Farms allege the awarded contract was issued in violation of the farm’s due process rights—that the farm was forced into arbitration and had no opportunity to challenge the certification of UFW as the collective bargaining representative for Wafler’s workers before arbitration.

Wayne County Judge Richard Healy’s ruling, however, confirmed the PERB-awarded contract, finding Wafler’s arguments to be without merit. Wafler Farms’ legal representatives did not respond to a request for comment, and the farm declined to comment on the court ruling.

“Wafler’s due process rights were not violated as Wafler had ample notice and opportunities to be heard that UFW sought compulsory arbitration,” wrote Healy. “Wafler’s claim that participating in a state mandated compulsory arbitration would amount to a waiver of its rights to object is without merit. Wafler could have participated in the arbitration and preserved its objections to the statutory scheme.”

Organizers like Gabriella Szpunt say the recent ruling is a long-awaited victory for UFW, which has remained engaged in unionization efforts with multiple farms throughout the state. With New York’s adverse effect wage rate—the minimum hourly wage for employers using the H-2A visa program for temporary foreign farmworkers—decreasing in October from $18.33 to $16, the newly-confirmed collective bargaining agreement raises continued concerns about how Walfer Farms will abide by the ruling. (The agreement calls for multi-year pay raises based on the AEWR plus 3 percent.)

“A lot of it depends on how they respond,” says Szpunt. “In a perfect world, they will just do the right thing, sign the contract, provide back wages, and make whole benefits for these workers.”

Workers like Salmon—who completed this year’s apple-picking season without receiving the benefits of the union contract—have returned to Jamaica in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which has displaced approximately 279,000 people since late November.

“I don’t think social media is giving (it) justice, but if you come out here and see the damage that has been done,” says Salmon, “our roots are gone (and) everything that we have inside (is) wet. Furniture (is) gone, clothing (is) gone, electrical items, they are gone.”

The victory for Walfer’s workers now comes both with a desire for resilience and a commitment to rebuilding, as Jamaican UFW members continue to raise funds in support of those affected by the hurricane.

“What we have to do now is each one help one (another),” says Salmon. “A lot of the guys are less fearful now than in other times. … They are standing up.”

Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort.

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