"Deal lets farmworkers unionize easier"... in the Los Angeles times...LOS ANGELES- Two months after an

acrimonious late-night standoff on a related issue, Gov. Jerry Brown and farmworkers advocates have struck a deal to give state regulators neew powers to help agriculture workers unionize.The measure, introduced in the Legislature on friday, would allow the state's Agriculture Labor Relations board to certify a union if it finds that a grower has acted illegally to affect the outcome of a labor election.The leglislation would also accelerate the mediation process for workers in disputes with their employers....

The farmworkeers union for years has lobbied tomake it easier for agriculture workers to unionize. rather than be required to hold an election, its leaders want to be able to simply collect signatures from a majority of workers on cards saying they want representation. Legislation known as the "card-check" bill, which would have premitted such a change, was vetoed multiple times by gov. Arnold schwarzenegger and by Brown in June.

(I shall post how this was voted on as today is he day for it to be voted on, if they don't find an excuse to put it off once again (smile))