NY Farm Bureau declares victory in farmworker lawsuit

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought collective bargaining rights for farmworkers, satisfying a request from New York Farm Bureau. The lawsuit challenged a more than century-old law that exempts farm workers from the right to organize. Filed in May by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), a not-for-profit focused on defending civil liberties and civil rights, the lawsuit asked the state Supreme Court to declare the exclusion unconstitutional.“The Court’s decision is a major victory for New York’s family farms,” Farm Bureau stated in a release announcing the Jan. 3 decision by state Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally Jr.NY Farm Bureau argued in state Supreme Court in Albany last July “that our system of government requires that the legislature change state law, not the courts,” stated Farm Bureau. “The Court agreed.”  In his decision, McNally wrote, ”...the plaintiffs and the State have not demonstrated that the Labor Law statues are racially discriminatory or that farm workers are a suspect class entitled to constitutional protections. Any changes to the SERA (State Employee Relations Act) should emanate with the New York State Legislature ...”