2023 New York Laws › AGM - Agriculture and Markets › Article 21 - Milk Control › 258-L - Producers' Bargaining Agencies and Distributors' Bargaining Agencies.

§ 258-l. Producers'  bargaining  agencies and distributors' bargaining
agencies.  (a) Incorporated producers' associations operated  under  and
subject  to  the  cooperative corporations law of this state, or similar
laws of another state and organized and controlled  by  milk  producers,
may  establish producers' bargaining agencies for the various production
areas  of  the  state  designated  by  the   commissioner.   Cooperative
corporations  similarly  incorporated hereafter and owned and controlled
by producers shall  be  entitled  to  use  and  participate  in  such  a
bargaining  agency  and be represented by it in order that producers not
now represented by a cooperative association  may  be  entitled  to  the
benefits of this act.
Upon   presentation  of  a  written  certification  by  a  cooperative
corporation qualified to receive cooperative payments under a state or a
joint federal and state  milk  marketing  order,  or  orders,  or  by  a
cooperative  corporation  affiliated  with  a  federation of cooperative
corporations similarly qualified, to a  licensed  milk  dealer,  setting
forth a list of its members for the payment of whose milk said dealer is
responsible,  such  dealer  shall  make  payments  to  such  cooperative
corporation from moneys due such listed members for  milk  purchased  by
the  dealer in such amounts as such cooperative shall certify is payable
to it; provided that (a) at least the names of 10 members  are  one  the
list,  or  (b)  in  the  case  of dealers receiving milk from 17 or less
producers at a plant, the names of at least 51% of such producers are on
the list. Such amounts shall be payable monthly to the treasurer of  the
cooperative corporation, together with a compilation of milk poundage to
which  such  payment  is  related.  At intervals, not more frequent than
monthly, each such cooperative shall certify to the dealer involved  any
additions  or withdrawals from its listed membership. As to such changes
in memberships so certified, the  dealer  shall  make  payments  on  the
additional  producers, but shall not be required to make payments to the
cooperative corporation on the withdrawn producers. In no event shall  a
dealer be required to make payments on a producer who is not listed as a
member by the certifying cooperative corporation.
The  voting  power of each association participating in such an agency
shall be on the basis of one vote for each one hundred  producers  under
contract  with  such  association for the marketing of their milk within
such marketing area, and in case of an association with  less  than  one
hundred   producers  under  contract  with  it,  a  fractional  vote  in
proportion to the number of such producers. Only active contracts  shall
be considered.
The  purpose  of  a  producers'  bargaining  agency  is  to  negotiate
agreements on the basis of orders in the respective marketing areas  for
presentation  to the commissioner for his consideration and approval, as
provided in section two hundred and fifty-eight-m herein.  A  producers'
bargaining  agency shall be authorized to negotiate with a distributors'
bargaining agency in such marketing area in regard  to  arrangements  or
agreements  to  be presented to the commissioner as a basis of marketing
agreements  or  orders  pursuant  to  said  section  two   hundred   and
fifty-eight-m.
Each  association  upon joining or employing the producers' bargaining
agency shall file with  it  a  certified  copy  of  its  certificate  of
incorporation,  its  by-laws,  copies  of  form  of  contracts  with its
producers and a certified statement of  the  number  of  such  contracts
which are in force.
A  producers'  bargaining  agency may appear before and negotiate with
the commissioner  in  regard  to  marketing  agreements  or  orders,  as
provided in section two hundred and fifty-eight-m herein.
It  shall  be lawful for such producers' bargaining agency to act as a
common marketing agency for  the  various  cooperative  associations  of
producers which it represents and such cooperative associations may make
contracts  with  each  other  and  with  such producers' agency for such
purpose  and  for  the  collective  processing,  preparing  for  market,
handling and marketing of the products  of  such  associations  and  for
effectuating  the  purposes  of  this  act.  In  order  to carry out and
effectuate such purposes, contracts and agreements may be made  pursuant
to  section  twenty-five  of the co-operative corporations law and as to
interstate commerce pursuant to act of congress of February  eighteenth,
nineteen  hundred  twenty-two, entitled "An act to authorize association
of producers of agricultural products,"
(b)  A  distributors'  bargaining  agency  may  be  organized  by  the
distributors  in  a marketing area. The voting power of each distributor
in such bargaining agency shall be in proportion to the quantity of milk
distributed by him in such area. Such quantity shall  be  determined  by
that   distributed   during  the  preceding  year  as  reported  to  the
commissioner. In the New  York  metropolitan  milk  marketing  area  the
voting  power  of each distributor shall be on the basis of one vote for
each ten million pounds of milk distributed in such  market  during  the
preceding  year and in case of a distributor handling a less quantity of
milk, a proportionate fractional vote.  In  other  marketing  areas  the
voting  basis  shall  be  one  vote for each one hundred thousand pounds
distributed  during  the  preceding  year  in   such   market   with   a
proportionate  fractional  vote  in case of distributors handling a less
quantity of milk. The purpose of distributors' bargaining agencies is to
negotiate with producers' bargaining agencies as to  the  agreements  or
the  basis  of orders in the respective marketing areas for presentation
to the commissioner for his consideration and approval, as  provided  in
section two hundred fifty-eight-m herein.
A distributors' bargaining agency may appear before and negotiate with
the  commissioner  in  regard  to  marketing  agreements  or  orders, as
provided in section two hundred fifty-eight-m herein.
Producers' bargaining agencies and distributors'  bargaining  agencies
may  also  meet and negotiate in order to carry out the purposes of this
act and subject to the approval of  the  commissioner,  as  provided  in
section  two  hundred  fifty-eight-m, may make marketing agreements with
each  other  and  with  cooperative  associations  in  relation  to  the
marketing  of  milk which may be handled or distributed in more than one
marketing area.  Such agencies may also meet and negotiate and take such
reasonable measures as are necessary and advisable to cooperate with the
commissioner and legally constituted authorities of other states and  of
the  United  States  with  respect  to  the handling and control of milk
handled  in  interstate  commerce  and  carry  out  and  effectuate  the
provisions of section two hundred fifty-eight-n.
Except  as specifically provided in section two hundred fifty-eight-m,
the activities and operations  of  producers'  bargaining  agencies  and
distributors'   bargaining  agencies  and  of  the  constituent  members
thereof,  and  contracts,  agreements  or  arrangements  made  by  them,
pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this  subdivision, and of section two
hundred fifty-eight-m hereof, shall not be deemed  or  construed  to  be
conspiracies,  combinations,  contracts  or  agreements  in restraint of
trade or commerce or an illegal monopoly.
"Milk production area" as used in this article means those dairy farms
maintained primarily as a source of fluid milk  for  a  marketing  area.
Such  primary  source  of  supply  shall  include  farms  from which all
shipments of milk  have  been  subject  to  the  minimum  uniform  price
provisions  of  a marketing order or agreement for such market during at

least a portion of the preceding two years,  together  with  such  other
farms  as may hereafter be designated by the commissioner as a source of
supply for the marketing area in the manner prescribed  by  section  two
hundred fifty-eight-j.