State Agency Spends $10 Million Taxpayer Dollars to Suppress Farmworker Votes

STATE AGENCY SPENDS $10 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO SUPPRESS FARMWORKER VOTES After abandoning farmworkers for almost 20 years and losing 90% of its members, the United Farm 3% Workers (UFW) union returned to take 3% of workers' wages without giving them a choice.12 1,2 Workers fought back and earned the right to an election, but the union objected.3 Now, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), the state agency created to give farmworkers a voice, which supervised the election in the first place, won't count their votes.' $10.7 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS BUDGETED TO ENSURE THE DESTRUCTION OF FARMWORKER BALLOTS4 $3,301,462 $3,301,462 $3,079,500 $1,086,500 Total $ 10,768,924 Budget Year 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 WHAT THE ALRB COULD HAVE DONE WITH THE $10 MILLION IT SPENT TO SUPPRESS FARMWORKERS’ VOTES 23 Constructed more than Purchased 2,000 house lots.7 Purchased 238 houses.9 100 new homes. Paid one year of rent for more than 1,600 farmworkers.0.1 INSTEAD, THE AGENCY SPENDS $4,000 PER VOTE TO SUPPRESS FARMWORKER CHOICE $10,768,924 $4,141 DIVIDED BY PER VOTE 2,600 BALLOTS Statewide elections cost Destroying farmworker taxpayers about2.13.14 ballots costs taxpayers $5.30 PER VS VOTER $4,000 PER VOTER The farmworker votes that hang in the balance equal the same quantity 59 of votes cast in 59 different California cities during the last general election. 5.16.17 Imagine if all the votes in one of those small cities just suddenly vanished because a government agency wanted it so. NEARLY HALF OF THE ALRB'S BUDGET IS DEVOTED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF GERAWAN Ш FARMWORKER BALLOTS18 38% of the ALRB's budget THE ALRB'S BUDGET HAS Since 2011, the NEARLY DOUBLED SINCE ALRB's budget has grown by 2012, THE YEAR UFW 90% RETURNED AFTER A 20 YEAR 2$ ABSENCE FROM GERAWAN19 %24 $4,393,000 $9,457,000 ALRB spending in ALRB budget for 19 2010-11 2015-16 32.9 63.5 Full-time equivalent positions for ALRB in 2010-11 Full-time equivalent positions for ALRB in 2015-16 THE ALRB HAS ALMOST DOUBLED STAFF AND BUDGET, EVEN THOUGH THE AGENCY'S CHAIRMAN WILLIAM GOULD ADMITS: 66 .union organizing has diminished to the point of non-existence! Indeed during these past two years while I have been Chairman there has not been one single representation petition filed under a statute which requires certification through a petition in order for a union to be recognized20 99 This infographic was compiled by GERAWAN FARMING using facts referenced in the footnotes. DOCUMENTS AND SOURCES ' Finley, Allysia. "California's Union-Sponsored War on Farmers." The Wall Street Journal. September O2, 2013. 2 Poulos, James. "A Crazy California Union Scandal." The Daily Beast. August 02, 2014. 3 ReasonTV. "Forced to Unionize: Is this Cesar Chavez's Legacy?" YouTube Video, 8:08. Published (March 2014). 4 "Governor's Budget - 7300 Agricultural Labor Relations Board." California State Budget. January 07, 2016. 5 "Building-Cost.net -- Free Residential Building Cost Calculator." Building-Cost.net. 6 "Mecca CA Real Estate - 55 Homes For Sale | Zillow." Zillow. 7 $5,000 per lot, between 4000 and 10,000 square feet 8 "Housing Market in Mecca, CA." Realtor.com. 9 Median listing price in Mecca: $47,000 10 "We Have 55 Apartments for Rent in Mecca, CA." Apartment Guide. " 833 nice apartments in Mecca area, between $644 and $1200/month, conservatively averaged at $1000/month x 12 months = $12,000/year per unit. 12 "A.G. File No. 2015-045." Legislative Analyst's Office: The California Legislature's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor. September 11, 2015. 13 "Statewide Election Results." California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. 14 Gerawan Farming, Inc. "Statewide Election Cost Per Voter." March 19, 2016. Estimating the cost to administer statewide elections. 15 "City-Data.com - Stats about All US Cities - Real Estate, Relocation Info, Crime, House Prices, Cost of Living, Races, Home Value Estimator, Recent Sales, Income, Photos, Schools, Maps, Weather, Neighborhoods, and More." City-Data.com. 16 California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. "Voter Participation Statistics By County." California Secretary of State. 2014. 17 Gerawan Farming, Inc. "Gerawan Farmworker Votes vs. Small City Votes." March 17, 2016. Comparison between the 2,600 Gerawan farmworkers' votes risking destruction to the quantity of votes of small cities in California. 18 MB Public Affairs, Inc. to Interested Parties, Memorandum, February 6, 2016, ALRB Budget Increases Related to Gerawan Farming Cases. 19 Sheehan, Tim. "Rising Expenses, Accusations of Bias Confront State Agency in Gerawan Farm-labor Conflict." The Fresno Bee. July 31, 2015. 20 Gould IV, William B. Chairman Agricultural Labor Relations Board. "Opening Keynote." Keynote Speech, Agricultural Personnel Management Association's 36th Annual Forum from Agricultural Personnel Management Association, Monterey, CA, January 28, 2016.