On April 24, 2025, Western Growers and member Olive Hill Greenhouses, Inc. filed a motion for preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The motion asks the court to block the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) from enforcing the state’s Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation (MMC) statute, codified at Labor Code §1164 et seq.

In the filing, WG argues that the MMC statute is unconstitutional on its face because it violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the motion contends that the MMC statute unlawfully delegates coercive governmental power to private unions without adequate standards or safeguards, forcing employers into contracts they have not voluntarily agreed to. Western Growers and Olive Hill further argue that the statute deprives farmworkers of their right to freely choose or remove a union representative by locking in a union for the duration of an imposed contract.

The United Farm Workers of America (“UFW”) was certified as the bargaining representative of Olive Hill’s agricultural workers on January 16, 2024, through the card check process established by California Assembly Bill 113. The preliminary injunction motion highlights the irreparable harm suffered by Olive Hill, a small nursery operation in San Diego County, which is currently being subjected to the MMC process at the request of the UFW. Olive Hill has negotiated in good faith, yet the ALRB ordered the employer into MMC proceedings simply because a certain amount of time elapsed from the initial bargaining request—without regard to the substance or progress of negotiations.

Western Growers and Olive Hill emphasize that immediate injunctive relief is needed to prevent the imposition of a government-mandated “contract” that could disrupt their operations and infringe on constitutional rights. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for May 29, 2025.

Western Growers and Olive Hill are represented by counsel David Schwarz, Barbara Taylor and Krista Landis with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, and Patrick Moody with Barsamian & Moody.