Article 2. Unfair Trade Practices of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 20. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 2.

It is an unfair trade practice, and unlawful, for any processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person, or, with regard to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f), for any cooperative bargaining association or any agent of an association, or for any other person to do any of the following:
  (a) Interfere with, restrain, coerce, or boycott producers in the exercise of the rights which are guaranteed pursuant to Section 54402.
  (b) Discriminate against any producer with respect to price or other terms of purchase of any raw agricultural commodity, by reason of the producer's membership in, or contract with, any cooperative bargaining association.
  (c) Pay or loan money, or give any other thing of value, to a producer as an inducement or reward for refusing or ceasing to belong to, or for breaching one's membership agreement in, a cooperative bargaining association.
  (d) Maliciously or knowingly give false reports about the finances, management, or activities of any person subject to this chapter.
  (e) Refuse to negotiate or bargain, including refusing to comply with the procedure prescribed in Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 54451), at reasonable times and for reasonable periods of time with a genuine desire to reach agreement and a serious attempt to resolve differences with a cooperative bargaining association for price, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract, and other contract provisions relative to any commodity which a cooperative bargaining association represents, or refuse to negotiate or bargain, including refusing to comply with the procedure prescribed in Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 54451), at reasonable times and for reasonable periods of time with a genuine desire to reach agreement and a serious attempt to resolve differences with a processor for price, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract, and other contract provisions relative to any commodity which the cooperative bargaining association represents. This subdivision does not apply to fresh grapes purchased for wine. Also, this subdivision is limited to processors, handlers, or agents of any of those persons who deal in fruits, nuts, or vegetables for processing and a cooperative bargaining association which meets all of the following:
  (1) That, under the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the cooperative bargaining association, the association is producer owned and controlled exclusively by producers.
  (2) The cooperative bargaining association has enforceable contracts with its members.
  (3) The cooperative bargaining association has financial resources and management reasonably sufficient to accomplish the purpose for which it was organized.
  (4) The cooperative bargaining association represents, through its own members, a sufficient number of producers or a sufficient quantity of any particular commodity, or both, to make it an effective agent for producers in bargaining with handlers.
  (5) One of the functions of the cooperative bargaining association is acting as principal or agent for its producer members to negotiate or bargain with handlers for prices, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract and other terms of contracts with respect to the production, sale, and marketing of their commodities.
  (f) Refuse to negotiate or bargain for price, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract, and other contract provisions relative to any commodity which a cooperative bargaining association represents. This subdivision only applies to a cooperative association whose members produce either fresh grapes purchased for wine or whose members produce any other commodity not specified in subdivision (e) and which meets all of the following:
  (1) Under the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the cooperative bargaining association, the association is producer owned and controlled exclusively by producers.
  (2) The cooperative bargaining association has enforceable contracts with its members.
  (3) The cooperative bargaining association has financial resources and management reasonably sufficient to accomplish the purpose for which it was organized.
  (4) The cooperative bargaining association represents, through its own members, a sufficient number of producers or a sufficient quantity of any particular commodity, or both, to make it an effective agent for producers in bargaining with handlers.
  (5) One of the functions of the cooperative bargaining association is acting as principal or agent for its producer members to negotiate or bargain with handlers for prices, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract, and other terms of contracts with respect to the production, sale, and marketing of their commodity.

The provisions of subdivision (e) of Section 54431 only apply to any processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person, who refuses to negotiate or bargain, as specified by such provisions, with a cooperative bargaining association which represents producers with whom such a processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person, has had a prior course of dealing. For purposes of this section, "prior course of dealing" means that the processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person has purchased in any two of the immediate preceding five years a commodity from a producer which a cooperative bargaining association represents. However, a processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person is subject to subdivision (e) of Section 54431 if that person has newly gone into business in California by locating in this state from another state or country, by being created from other business entities which had a prior course of dealing with a bargaining association, or by being newly created and utilizing substantially the same processing facilities as a prior processor which itself was subject to subdivision (e) of Section 54431.

The provisions of subdivision (e) of Section 54431 shall not apply to cooperative associations in respect to business done with its own membership.

Nothing in subdivision (e) or (f) of Section 54431 requires any processor, handler, distributor, or agent of any such person, to negotiate over any specific period of time, or to agree upon price, terms of sale, compensation for commodities produced under contract, and other contract provisions relative to any commodity which any cooperative bargaining association represents. However, nothing in this section relieves the parties from the requirement to negotiate and bargain pursuant to subdivision (e) or (f) of Section 54431 or to comply with the procedures prescribed in Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 54451) if applicable.