(PressDemocrat)  -

State enforcement agencies are cracking down on wage and labor violations, labor groups and activists are targeting farm companies with negative campaigns, and fewer workers are crossing the border from Mexico, grape growers were told Friday at the annual trade show held by Sonoma County Winegrowers.

Unions have been emboldened by recent changes to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, said Michael Saqui, attorney with Saqui Law Group, based in Roseville and Salinas.

In some cases, union organizers have taken to social media channels to create boycott campaigns against farm employers before the companies were served with complaint papers.

“The social justice network — Twitter, Facebook, periodicals that go out over the Internet — now are the fastest way to boycott a product that we've ever seen, and they're successfully using it,” Saqui said.