ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge has dismissed a lawsuit that could have dramatically affected farm wages in the state by granting those workers collective bargaining rights.

The New York Farm Bureau said Tuesday that a judge on New York's trial-level state Supreme Court granted its request to dismiss the challenge to a state law that prohibits farmworkers from unionizing. The judge said such changes to state labor law should emanate from the Legislature.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in 2016, said it planned to appeal the decision. The group argued that farmworkers deserve the same labor rights as other workers.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had decided his administration would not seek to defend the law in the face of the lawsuit by the NYCLU.

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