SACRAMENTO (AP) _ Democratic senators cited a series of heat-related deaths in the fields as they approved a bill Monday that could make it easier for unions to organize California farm workers.

The bill would let farm workers choose union representation without the traditional ballot-booth elections.

The measure by former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, passed on a party-line, 23-15 vote. It faces a possible veto by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said helping farm workers organize is the best way to improve working conditions and avoid more field deaths. California could hire dozens more inspectors to enforce regulations designed to prevent heat deaths and not have as much effect, Steinberg said.

“Six people dead this summer. Fifteen since 2003. It’s time to try something different,” said Steinberg, who is in line to become the Senate’s next leader.

Steinberg cited United Farm Worker estimates for the death totals. CalOSHA spokesman Paul Feist said the state has confirmed two heat-related farm worker deaths this summer and is investigating three others. The state has confirmed or is investigating 11 possible heat-related deaths in all industries this year.

After the vote, senators applauded United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, who was in the gallery watching the debate.

The union sought the election law change after alleging that one of the nation’s largest producers of table grapes pressured laborers into defeating an attempt to organize workers three years ago.

The Nunez legislation would set up a process in which unions could request what’s called a “mediated election” that bill supporters likened to voting absentee. Workers would fill out a ballot to decide if they wanted to authorize a union at that point or make the decision through the traditional ballot-booth vote.

That would reduce the potential pressure that workers could face from growers as they walked into a voting booth, bill supporters said.

“Just like an absentee ballot, you get your ballot, you vote at home, you turn it back in,” UFW organizing director Armando Elenes said by telephone. “In this process that currently exists...you’re talking about incredible amounts of coercion and intimidation right before the voting starts.”

Nunez said giving workers the options was an attempt to overcome Schwarzenegger’s objections.

The governor vetoed two previous versions of the legislation that would have allowed workers to authorize a union by signing union membership cards. He has not taken a position on the latest bill.

Republican senators said the Nunez bill would still enable union organizers to pressure laborers into choosing union representation. A coalition of 24 farm and business associations also opposes the bill.

“What is it about the right of a secret ballot that bothers you?” Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, asked his Democratic colleagues during the debate. “An election in which someone is looking over your shoulder as you cast your vote is no election at all — it’s a sham.”

Steinberg said the absentee-ballot vote would be overseen by a mediator and that there would be penalties if union organizers abused the new process.

The measure returns to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments before heading to the governor’s desk.

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On the Net:

Read AB2386 at www.assembly.ca.gov