New York Dairy Operators Face A Unique Challenge

It’s a challenging time for farm country, and that’s true for the dairy sector.  Finding enough labor can be an almost impossible task, but then Kim Skellie, a New York dairy farmer, says producers in his state face another challenge.

“Farmworkers have the right to unionize in New York, and I guess one concern we have, especially with that, is there's a card check voting system where cards can be collected, where somebody can sign a dues authorization card at any time, and over the next year, from that time, it could be filed for signifying a union has been formed on that farm," Skellie said.  "There are a lot of problems with that system, and we would like to be like all the rest of the unionized world, where they have a secret ballot, which seems like a much fairer process for farmworkers as well as the farm owner.” 

It’s a system he noted that  needs to be changed as quickly as possible.

"That's something we'd like to see legislative change to, or, at a minimum, leave a copy of that card that they signed, and dated on the day that they signed it, which is not being done at this point, either,” Skellie said.

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