Upstate yogurt maker faces heat from labor groups

Citing New York legislation that gives farm workers the right to join unions, a coalition of labor organizations is waging a campaign to pressure a major upstate employer — the maker of Chobani yogurt — to protect the rights of agricultural workers to organize.

The controversial statute, backed by New York’s politically influential unions, was approved this year in Albany despite strong opposition from the New York Farm Bureau and many upstate lawmakers.