Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who own The Wonderful Company, have already built a distribution center in Shafter. But now, they want to expand it to cover an additional 1,800 acres and add a new railroad and highway system to create an absolutely enormous international shipping hub.

The Resnicks own The Wonderful Company, which manufactures and sells Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, POM pomegranate juice, JNSQ Wines, Landmark Wines, Halos, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, and maybe most famously, Fiji Water.

The small city of Shafter, California, sits in the northwest corner of Kern County, just 18 miles from Bakersfield. With a population of a little over 21,000 people, the city is certainly one of the smallest in the country.

But, residents of Shafter have generally become accustomed to the existing structures and the ongoing business there. Except now, The Wonderful Company wants to expand.

But many of Shafter’s residents and other environmentalists living in Kern County are concerned with the proposal.

To combat this problem, the Resnicks have promised to build a new highway that diverts trucks around the center of Shafter and an inland train terminal to reduce traffic on the road. But many wonder about the side effects of these projects.

Assistant director of the Center on Race, Poverty, & the Environment in Delano told the LA Times, “[The Wonderful Company park is] going to bring health and environmental impacts that are going to impact the neighbors who live near the industrial park.”

Some Shafter residents are concerned not just for their own health and safety but for their children’s and even the generations after that.

The existing park already created 10,000 jobs in Shafter, but The Wonderful Company claims the new international hub will generate another 50,000 positions.

And, of course, giant businesses like The Wonderful Company need to constantly be thinking about labor costs and, more specifically, how to decrease them if they want to keep making billions. As the company’s COO, John Guinn, explained, “I don’t think it’s bad if we’re able to do twice as much with half as much labor.”

According to Guinn, every train that arrives at the new rail center would essentially be replacing 240 trucks. This means that hundreds of drivers could lose their existing jobs, and it’s also unlikely that many new drivers will be hired.

The Renicks have promised these residents the world, with tens of thousands of jobs, improved infrastructure, and a tangible boost to their economy. However, with pollution, automated technology, and traffic to think of, many are wondering if they’re not just losing their beautiful home for next to nothing in return.

Since February this year, the Resnicks have been engaged in a legal battle with the United Farm Workers. UFW is campaigning to unionize more than 600 Wonderful Nurseries workers in the Central Valley.

Wonderful Co. has also lost a series of motions before the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board to delay a mandate ordering the company to reach a contract with the UFW by June 3. Otherwise, the board would impose certain terms on the company.

The signed cards gave the UFW authority to represent them in collective bargaining on a contract. This process is known as “card check.” The board then certified the UFW as the workers’ representative. It gave the union and the company a tight deadline to agree on a contract.

If the Resnicks’ company wins, farmworkers would lose their legal protection in California. They would return to the working conditions that existed before César Chavez’s campaign for farm unionization in the 1960s.

But Wonderful Nurseries President Rob Yraceburu disputed the claim. He said the company’s relationship with the agricultural workers it employs “is rooted in mutual trust, collaboration, and respect.”

This lawsuit follows what Trader Joe’s and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have done. They argued against the National Labor Relations Board, contending that the NLRB, established by Congress in 1935, is unconstitutional.

Worker accounts also showed differences in opinions. On the one hand, there were complaints about poor working conditions at Wonderful, which workers hoped could be upgraded with a union involvement. But other workers also said they didn’t realize that signing an authorization card meant they were joining a union.

Late last March, around 100 Wonderful workers staged an anti-union protest at the ALRB offices in Visalia. However, the UFW claimed that the rally was the result of Wonderful’s coercion. Of course, Wonderful denied its involvement in the protest.

Meanwhile, Wonderful was named as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Fortune Magazine’s list. The company ranked at the 91st position. The Resnicks called their employees “the heart of the company. They bring our culture to life, show up for each other every day, promote a supportive and inclusive environment, and strive to give back.”

They asserted the FTC infringed their 1st Amendment rights by saying Wonderful made “false and misleading” and “unsubstantiated” claims about the health benefits of their pomegranate juice, Pom. The battle went up to the U.S. Supreme Court but the court rejected the company’s appeal.

William B. Gould IV, professor emeritus of law at Stanford University and former chairman of National and California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Boards said doubted the company’s claims of unconstitutionality would win favor from California judges. But there’s still a chance with the U.S. Supreme Court, known to be anti-union.

With this lawsuit, Wonderful has “thrown buckets of paint against the wall in the hope that something will stick. Maybe they’ll be right on some of it.” The unions and some of their farm workers would hope that nothing sticks. Then again, for now, it seems that the Resnicks and their company still hold all the power.