California judge halts hearing in fight between state agricultural giant and farmworkers’ union

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A California judge has temporarily blocked a hearing from taking place in a dispute between one of the state’s most influential agricultural companies and the country’s biggest farmworkers’ union. Kern County Superior Court Judge Bernard C. Barmann Jr. has issued a preliminary injunction halting the hearing and a push by the United Farm Workers to negotiate a labor contract for nursery workers at the Wonderful Co. At the heart of the fight is a law enacted in California in 2022 aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to form labor unions. Wonderful welcomed the ruling while the UFW indicated it expects to appeal.