Whether farm workers in New York have the right to unionize was the subject of a hearing Thursday before Albany Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally.

In October, McNally granted the New York Farm Bureau permission to intervene in the suit (NYLJ, Oct. 25, 2016). The Farm Bureau on Thursday argued that allowing roughly 60,000 farm workers to unionize would devastate New York farms, where work days are dictated largely by weather conditions.

Bond, Schoeneck & King partner Brian Butler, representing the Farm Bureau, also argued that the governor and Legislature—not the courts— should decide if farm workers can unionize.