J’can farm worker wins US labour case over delayed recall

A Jamaican farm worker who said his recall to a New York farm was delayed in 2024 after he supported union activity has won his case before the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

Owen Salmon brought the complaint against Wafler Farms with the backing of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), which filed initial unfair labour practice charges in July 2023 and added him in one of several later amendments.

The case alleged that the farm violated the State Employment Relations Act by discouraging union participation, including by failing to recall certain H-2A workers in line with established procedures.

Salmon was one of four Jamaican farmers who claimed that their recall to Wafler Farms was delayed or denied after they supported union activities.

However, PERB dismissed UFW’s claims that the other three employees were victims of unlawful interference or discrimination for having enaged in protected union activity.

PERB ruled in Salmon’s favour, ordering the farm to compensate him for lost earnings resulting from the delayed recall and to cease interfering with his legal rights through improper manipulation of its recall process. The farm must also provide the union with requested information on recall and hiring practices.

“I feel good about this decision,” Salmon told The Gleaner. “I love it.”

Salmon, who is scheduled to return to the farm next week, said he feels vindicated and is not concerned about potential backlash.

“I see in areas where it’s beginning to change, the contract, and so forth,” he said, crediting the union for pushing improvements.

ALLEGED REASON FOR DELAY

Salmon began working at Wafler Farms in 2016 under the US Department of Labor’s H-2A programme. His duties included nursery work such as budding, trimming orchard trees, and harvesting apples. Over eight years, he was typically recalled early in the season, placed in Group One or Group Two, which return to the farm in March or April each season.

In 2024, however, he was not included in either group for the first time and was not rehired until July. Salmon testified that he had supported union efforts in 2023 by attending meetings and recording a morning briefing in which a farm owner was captured swearing and cursing at the workers.

The video circulated widely, and Salmon said he was identified as the person who recorded it.

He told the hearing that he believed the delayed recall was linked to both the video and his union support.

Wafler Farms denied the allegations, stating that recall decisions were based on operational needs and crop conditions, not union activity.

During hearings held in September and October 2025, management said there had been attempts to recall Salmon earlier in 2024 and maintained that they were unaware of his union involvement.

The farm also argued that Salmon’s work was not needed as early in the season. Management said a tree-grafting project he worked on in 2023 had been eliminated in 2024 and that more domestic workers were hired that year. It added that while workers can state preferred recall dates, those preferences are not guaranteed due to factors such as the number of domestic workers hired, labour demand, and the role of the Jamaican labour ministry – specifically whether “the ministry was able to get them them visas”.

However, hearing officer Joseph O’Donnell found that the farm’s management was aware of Salmon’s union activities and that the delayed recall was motivated by anti-union hostility.

The ruling further found that the role of Jamaica’s Ministry of Labour in the recall process had been overstated, noting that workers not placed on preferred lists have no realistic chance of returning. O’Donnell concluded that without the union’s persistent inquiries, Salmon might not have been recalled in 2024 at all.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com