Center For Worker Freedom

722 12th Street NW Suite #400

Washington, D.C. 20005

For Immediate Release                                                                        

October 1, 2014                                            

CA Labor Judge Bullies, Intimidates Workers

Records show Judge Mark Soble paid by labor board suppressing farm worker votes

Fresno –A judge charged with being an impartial arbiter in a dispute between farm workers and the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) intimidated workers at a public hearing on September 29, sources tell the Center for Worker Freedom.

The judge, Mark Soble, angrily waved around a CWF press release during the ALRB hearing’s opening morning, and demanded to know if Silvia Lopez, a farm worker fighting for her right not to join a union, was behind a press conference scheduled and promoted by CWF, to which Ms. Lopez was an invitee.

Sources tell CWF that farmworkers present felt intimidated by the Judge’s comments, and feared they would face legal reprisal were they to speak out at the press conference, which took place without incident this morning across the hall from the ALRB hearing location.

“Fortunately, the judge’s obvious attempt to bully the workers into not speaking out failed, said CWF Executive Director Matt Patterson.  “This morning over 200 workers, including Ms. Lopez, addressed the press in a peaceful but passionate presentation of their case.”

Why would the judge show such transparent hostility toward Ms. Lopez’s constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and assembly?  According to Transparent California, Soble received over $142,000 in pay and benefits from the ALRB in 2013.  Since 2011, he has been paid over $357,000 from the board that has been actively trying to force the workers into the United Farm Workers (UFW) against their will for almost a year.

“This is nothing less than a Soviet-style kangaroo court, where the judge is literally in the pocket of one of the parties of the dispute,” said Patterson.

The workers at Fresno-based Gerawan Farming voted in a decertification election last November, but the ALRB is refusing to count the votes.

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CWF is a special project of Americans For Tax Reform dedicated to educating the public about the costs and consequences of unionization. 

Contact: John Kartch                                                              

 Phone: (202) 785-0226

 Email: jkartch@atr.org