Mushroom workers get their day in court

The Washington Supreme Court will hear farm workers’ appeal in UFW v. Greenwood with implications for worker rights statewide

SUNNYSIDE, WA (December 17, 2025) — The United Farm Workers announced this week that the Washington Supreme Court will take up the case of six farm workers who allege they were fired by Windmill Farms for organizing a union and subsequently forced into arbitration with the employer without an opportunity for their story to be heard in open court.

The court will hear the farm worekrs’ appeal in UFW v. Greenwood. The central issue in the case is the circumstances under which an employer can force workers into arbitration. The court’s findings could set a precedent for how arbitration can be imposed on any group of workers, with far-reaching impacts for working people across Washington state.

“This case directly addresses a fundamental and urgent issue of broad public import. Arbitration strongly favors employers and deprives low-wage workers of important rights to a jury trial and appellate review,” said Ann Gong, attorney at Columbia Legal Services, representing the workers. “Farm workers in Washington have few protections and even less bargaining power, and it is crucial that we work to prevent employers from forcing vulnerable workers into arbitration agreements.”

Windmill mushroom workers moved to organize a union in 2022. They were met with harassment and intimidation tactics from their employer, including a punitive quota system, surveillance, and retaliatory firing for organizing, per UFW. State law does not currently extend collective bargaining rights to farm workers, forcing farm workers to rely on voluntary recognition from the employer in order to secure their union. But state law does prohibit employer retaliation against farm workers for organizing.

Windmill mushroom workers and UFW President Teresa Romero pose for a photo in 2023.

So in November of 2023, six workers and the UFW sued Windmill Farms, alleging the company illegally fired the workers in retaliation for organizing a union. But the company moved to force the workers into private arbitration instead, a method of silencing the workers who already are excluded from many of the protections guaranteed to other workers under federal law. With the state supreme court taking up the workers appeal, that injustice may now be reversed.

“Because they are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, farm workers are already denied many of the protections most other workers take for granted. Forcing them into private arbitration only deepens that inequality by closing the courthouse doors altogether,” said Edgar Aguilasocho, attorney at Martinez Aguilasocho Law, Inc., one of the law firms representing the workers. “Washington’s Little Norris-LaGuardia Act was enacted to protect collective action as a public right, not to hide these disputes behind closed doors. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear this case is an important step toward ensuring that farm workers’ rights are enforced in the open, where fairness and accountability matter.”

For the workers who have fought for their union and their rights for years, news that the state Supreme Court will hear the appeal is welcome.

“I am very glad that the Washington Supreme court has taken up the appeal because it gives them an opportunity to fix the situation and I am hopeful that justice will prevail,” said plaintiff Jose Martinez-Cuevas, a former worker at Windmill Farms.

This lawsuit is just one way the workers are fighting back. Last year, they launched a boycott of Windmill Mushrooms, urging customers not to purchase the company’s produce until the workers win their union. Despite the obstacles stacked against them, the workers aren’t backing down.

“Workers at Windmill Farms did the right thing and exercised their rights as workers to seek to organize a union and to speak up against unjust and unsafe working conditions,” said UFW President Teresa Romero. “It is a small measure of justice that these workers will finally have their claims heard in court, despite the company’s efforts to silence them.”

Romero continued: “The full measure of justice will be the day that farm workers at Windmill Farms can finally benefit from the union contract they have fought and sacrificed for.”