OLYMPIA— A House committee endorsed a bill giving workers on cannabis farms collective-bargaining rights, approving it after an exchange foreshadowing future debates over extending the right to all farmworkers.

House Bill 1141 passed 6-3 along party lines Jan. 22 from the Democratic-controlled Labor and Workplace Committee. Straying from the bill’s narrow focus, lawmakers debated union rights for farmworkers in general.

Most farmworkers have rejected unions for the past 50 years, said Quincy Republican Alex Ybarra, whose district has tens of thousands of farmworkers. The bill would make forming bargaining units too easy for unions, he said.

The bill would harm farmworkers, he said. “It’s not fair because these folks don’t know what they’re signing up for,” Ybarra said. “I think this bill is going to be like the other farm bills that people said are helpful for farmworkers. They’re not.”

Bill sponsor Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, responded farmworkers have been held back from unionizing. “No farmworker wants to work for the wages and back-bending work that they have, not one,” she said.

“I would say to you farmworkers have wanted to unionize. They’ve wanted protection. They want paid time off. They want to be protected from pesticides,” she said. “We continue to abuse them and keep those rights away from them.”

Farmworkers can join unions, but don’t have bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Under HB 1141, the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission would enforce bargaining rights for cannabis workers.

Unlike other farmers, cannabis growers are licensed by the state. Washington has 155 licensed cannabis growers and processors. Farm lobbyists expect the push to organize cannabis farmworkers to eventually expand to other types of farmworkers.

Ortiz-Self’s bill has 24 Democratic co-sponsors, but no Republican signed onto the bill.

Republicans, lacking the votes to block the bill, proposed several amendments, but Democrats rejected all of them. One would have required unions to hold secret-ballot elections to form bargaining units, rather than collecting signatures on cards.

Another amendment would have allowed workers to disband a collective-bargaining unit at any time, rather than just shortly before a contract expires.

California requires state-licensed cannabis growers to enter into “labor peace agreements.” Unions agree to not call for strikes or boycotts, while growers agree to not interfere with union organizers.