{"id":3313,"date":"2026-09-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmstand.chee.studio\/?p=3313"},"modified":"2026-09-21T18:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T18:35:58","slug":"ufcw-1776-sues-state-of-pennsylvania-to-end-unconstitutional-labor-law-exception-for-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farmstand.org\/es\/ufcw-1776-sues-state-of-pennsylvania-to-end-unconstitutional-labor-law-exception-for-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"UFCW 1776 demanda al estado de Pensilvania para poner fin a la excepci\u00f3n inconstitucional de la ley laboral para la agricultura"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Legal challenge seeks to end nearly nine-decade injustice harming organized labor in the state<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776 Keystone State has <a href=\"https:\/\/farmstand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PFR-Final-Received-by-Court-1.pdf\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/farmstand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PFR-Final-Received-by-Court-1.pdf\">present\u00f3 una demanda<\/a> seeking to end an exception in Pennsylvania law that leaves the state\u2019s agricultural workers with fewer rights at work than others &#8211; sometimes fewer rights than workers who do nearly identical tasks but aren\u2019t classified as \u201cagricultural laborers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This \u201cagricultural laborer\u201d exclusion from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act is significant in the lives of many Pennsylvanians: Because they are excluded from the PLRA, agricultural workers in Pennsylvania who wish to organize with other workers, join a union, or protest abusive working conditions could be fired for doing so.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The exclusion of agricultural workers from the PLRA violates multiple parts of the Pennsylvania Constitution, including Equal Protection guarantees, the prohibition against special laws, and the prohibition against discrimination based on race and ethnicity, according to the complaint. <a href=\"https:\/\/farmstand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PFR-Final-Received-by-Court-1.pdf\">The suit<\/a> seeks an order from the Commonwealth Court declaring the exception unconstitutional, and enjoining state officials from enforcing it. This case is co-counseled by FarmSTAND; Willig, Williams &amp; Davidson; and Local 1776.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PLRA exception at issue is fundamentally harmful to organized labor\u2019s work to win better pay, benefits, and working conditions for food workers in Pennsylvania. It has the effect of reducing bargaining power not just for those classed as agricultural laborers. It also makes things harder for the food workforce as a whole by limiting the collective pressure they can put on their employers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Pennsylvania helped build the American labor movement, and we don&#8217;t leave workers behind. That&#8217;s exactly what this statute does. We&#8217;re filing this lawsuit to strike down the agricultural exception because it violates our state constitution, and because no one should have fewer rights simply because of where their work takes place,\u201d said Wendell Young IV, President of UFCW Local 1776 KS. \u201cWinning this case will strengthen the rights of workers across the supply chain. This is necessary, and long overdue.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act, passed in 1937, sought to provide workers with \u201cfull freedom of association\u201d by making it unlawful for employers to interfere or retaliate against workers who joined a union or engaged in other concerted activities. The PLRA additionally provided workers with the right to collectively bargain, meaning that employers are required to negotiate in good faith with their workers. Prior to the passage of the PLRA, and the federal equivalent, employers in Pennsylvania had routinely fired workers for unionizing and made workers promise to not unionize as a condition of their employment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PLRA\u2019s exception also divides workers nonsensically, and treats workers doing similar jobs in the same supply chain differently. Under the law as it stands, someone employed on a chicken farm to tend to chickens is likely an \u201cagricultural laborer\u201d exempt from the PLRA, while a worker employed to go to the farm, catch the chickens and load them onto a truck, is generally not an \u201cagricultural laborer\u201d and would be protected by the law.&nbsp;<br><br>Because of the PLRA\u2019s exclusion of agricultural workers, the food system workers who need to stand up to their employer most don\u2019t have the protection to do so. They are more likely to be immigrants with non-permanent immigration status, do very dangerous tasks at work, be paid less than other food system workers, live in isolated rural places, and speak only Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Everywhere, agricultural workers deserve the same workplace protections as all other workers. By carving them out of the PLRA, Pennsylvania is treating its agricultural workers, the backbone of the state\u2019s agricultural industry, as uniquely unworthy of protection,\u201d said Hannah Wolf, FarmSTAND Senior Staff Attorney and counsel for UFCW 1776 in the challenge. \u201cThe Pennsylvania Constitution provides a remedy for these singled-out workers. An order declaring the agricultural laborer exclusion unconstitutional would represent a giant step towards a fair food system.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legal challenge seeks to end nearly nine-decade injustice harming organized labor in the state The United Food and Commercial Workers, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"issue":[17],"class_list":["post-3313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","issue-worker-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UFCW 1776 Sues State of Pennsylvania To End Unconstitutional Labor Law Exception for Agriculture - 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