09/17/2025 UFW Union-Busting Charges Awarded Against Golden Harvest and A&J Kirby Farms in New York

Albany, NY -The UFW has won two legal battles in support of farm workers' ongoing unionization fights in New York state. Despite a historic 2019 law extending unionization rights to farm workers in New York State - regardless of immigration status - multiple employers continue to defy the law and violate workers' rights by refusing to respect UFW certifications or union contracts. These legal victories bring legally binding UFW contracts closer for farm workers at two agricultural employers in New York state.

• In the first legal victory, the UFW won its Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge against Golden Harvest Farms, an apple producer in the Albany area, for failing to provide required information to the UFW for the purpose of collective bargaining negotiations was upheld. Golden Harvest was ordered to provide the requested information and to post notices informing all workers at Golden Harvest that the company violated the Farm Laborers' Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA). The notice Golden Harvest Farms must post can be viewed HERE.
  
• In the second legal victory, A&J Kirby Farms, an apple producer in between Rochester and Buffalo, was also ordered to post notices and provide requested information following another ULP charge filed by the UFW. The New York PERB also decided to dismiss exceptions filed by A&J Kirby challenging that decision. The notice A&J Kirby Farms must post be viewed HERE.

"New York employers continue to attempt evading their obligations under New York labor law, resulting in lost wages, lost time, and lost rights for the farm workers who feed this state," said UFW Secretary Treasurer Armando Elenes. "It would be better for all involved for New York's agricultural employers to move beyond anger and denial and on to acceptance. Like it or not, the UFW is in New York to stay. The UFW is at Golden Harvest and AJ Kirby to stay. The bad old days when a landowners' word was the only law that mattered are never coming back. Farm workers have seen that a better life is possible with the union, and no amount of legal delays will prevent that truth from being seen."

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