Wetherton v. Growers Farm Labor Assn

In Wetherton v. Growers Farm Labor Assn. (1969) 275 Cal. App. 2d 168, the employee was discharged because he was engaging in union activities. Not only does the California Labor Code explicitly provide an employee the right to engage in such conduct, but it makes clear that public policy precludes employers from interfering with that right. Since 1937, section 923 of the Labor Code has declared the public policy of this state to recognize "that the individual workman have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, and that he shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor . . . in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining . . . ." Moreover, Labor Code section 922 makes it a misdemeanor for any person to coerce another not to join a labor organization "as a condition of securing employment or continuing in the employment of any such person." Thus, in threatening to fire employees if they joined a union, there was "no question that there was a violation of the public policy established by section 923." ( Wetherton v. Growers Farm Labor Assn., supra, 275 Cal. App. 2d at p. 175.)