Ex-Farm Panel Lawyer Says Firing Was Unfair

SACRAMENTO — A former attorney for the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board charged Tuesday that he was unfairly fired because he accused the board’s top administrator of making a “politically motivated attack” on the United Farm Workers.

Attorney Mark Ginsberg told a press conference that he was fired in October from his post in Salinas because, in a letter published in several newspapers, he criticized Dave Stirling, the board’s general counsel.

Based on charges brought by Ginsberg, who worked for the board 13 months, and current employees of the agency, the state Public Employment Relations Board has filed a complaint alleging that Stirling engaged in 13 unfair labor practices, including the firing of Ginsberg. A hearing is scheduled in February.

Stirling said in an interview that Ginsberg’s firing was “in no way whatsoever” connected with the critical letter and resulted solely from dissatisfaction with Ginsberg’s work.

“I’m confident that when this matter is heard by an administrative law judge, all of these charges will be found to be frivolous,” Stirling said. “Not one of them has merit.”

Since his appointment by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1983, Stirling has been the focal point of many controversies. His critics have portrayed him as pro-farmer and anti-worker, but he has consistently retained the governor’s backing.

In the past, Stirling has clashed with employees hired during former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Administration. However, in this case, his adversaries include attorneys and staff members hired during his own tenure.

Board employees say Ginsberg’s firing and the alleged harassment of other workers stemmed from an exchange of opinions published in The Times this fall concerning the United Farm Workers and its president, Cesar Chavez.

In an Opinion Page article published Sept. 24, Stirling said the union’s latest boycott of California table grapes is “unfair.” He called Chavez “zealous, uncompromising, litigious, demanding and frequently heavy-handed.”

In response, Ginsberg and seven other board employees wrote to newspaper editors in October expressing alarm that Stirling would “interject himself into the table grape boycott and launch a vicious personal attack against the president of an agricultural union.”

They said the board’s duty is to resolve disputes between farmers and farm workers and it should maintain neutrality.

“We are ethically and professionally compelled to disassociate ourselves from his politically motivated attack on a union that regularly appears before this agency,” the letter said.

As a result of their stand, the workers said, Ginsberg was fired.