Mahony

Nishikawa Farms, Inc. appeals from a judgment which denied a writ of mandate to compel the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) to set aside a representation election. We affirm the judgment.

On September 8, 1975, the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, filed with the ALRB at its Sacramento regional office a petition for certification pursuant to section 1156.3 of the Labor Code, seeking a representation election among appellant’s employees. The petition was accompanied by authorization cards signed by 104 of the persons then employed by appellant. It was alleged in the petition that appellant then had approximately 150 agricultural employees.

As required by the regulations which had been adopted by the ALRB (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 8, § 20310), appellant delivered to the ALRB a list of employees for the payroll period immediately preceding the filing of the petition for certification. The list contained 246 names. Appellant informed the ALRB in writing that during the preceding year the highest level of employment during any single week had been approximately 200 employees.

Agents of the ALRB investigated whether there was reasonable cause to believe that a…