The day may be fast approaching when some animals will have greater labor protections than tens of thousands of New York State's farm workers.
The city Health Department has proposed rules that would mandate five weeks of vacation per year for carriage horses, plus limits on daily hours of work and upgraded stable facilities.
The people who plant and harvest our food should only be so lucky.
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When the National Labor Relations Act first passed in 1935, farm workers were excludes from the bill so that FDR could garner support from rural Senators. The campaigns of Caesar Chavez for farm worker rights fought at the state level to give rights to farmworkers through state government. In New York advocates have continued to fight for a Bill of Rights for farmworkers. With new developments and new commitments from state leaders, we may fast be approaching the day where farm workers will possess the rights of other private sector employees to organize, collectively bargain, and receive overtime pay.
Advocates and supports in Albany have dubbed the proposal the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act . The bill models itself after most other labor laws in the state and the country and provides a legal framework to provide labor rights for farmworkers. Notably it provides farmworkers the right to organize and collectively bargain, sets a standard for overtime pay for overtime hours, creates a disability insurance provision for workers, and a guaranteed day off per week. These are standard rights of workers that have largely been in place for private sector employees since the New Deal.
Unfortunately there has been a great deal of push-back from the Farm Bureau and the farm owners community.
Tim Bigham, area field advisor for the New York Farm Bureau, described several aspects of the bill as "anti-business," saying farm owners, especially the smaller ones, simply won't be able to afford them.
Bigham said a main concern is a provision requiring forced payment of overtime rates to workers who are on the job longer than eight hours per day. Bigham argued that farm work should continue to be exempt from such overtime provisions because, by its nature, it is seasonal work, requiring individuals to put in longer hours during warm weather when work can actually be done. Such items, Bigham said, could drive up costs for area farmers, many of whom are struggling financially as it is. source
With an eye to compromise, advocates recently announced a variety of changes to the bill to mollify the concerns of the Bigham, the Farm Bureau and small farm owners throughout the state. The changes provide substantial compromises while guaranteeing protection to workers in great need of better working conditions. The new proposal makes the following changes:
-Collective bargaining protections are limited to workers on farms with sales exceeding $500,000-exempting over 95% of New York farms and covering only agribusinesses.
- The overtime threshold (i.e. the number of hours of straight pay before time-and-a-half kicks in) is increased from 40/week and 8/day to 60/week (55/week beginning in 2013) and 10/day, and on the 7th consecutive work day.
- Only 1.5 times the minimum wage for workers paid by piece-rate will be required for overtime hours, rather than 1.5 times the worker's regular rate .
- Existing unemployment tax liability on guestworker wages is eliminated entirely, resulting in $1 million or more in annual savings for New York farmers.
-Small farms are allowed continued exemption from workers compensation and unemployment insurance tax liabilities.
-"Family" is defined as broadly as possible and exempted from coverage under the Act
These are substantial reductions in the overall effect of the Act. 95% of farms will be exempt. Overtime thresholds are pushed back. Overtime wage scales are lowered. The most important thing, however, is that the bill has met the concerns of small farm owners and will provide rights to those in desperate need of protection. Farmworker advocates took a major step to unilaterally meet the concerns of the Farm Bureau.
Can we expect the bill to pass now? As Reverend Richard Witt of the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign stated, "We hope that all interested parties will now act in good faith as New York takes this major step toward justice and equality for all workers." Opponents of the bill have a duty to act in good faith and work with worker advocates to pass a bill that provides workers protections they deserve. We are closer to a bill then we've ever been. Now is the time to pass the bill and bring farm working conditions into the 20th (let alone the 21st) century.
The Labor Committee is expected to meet next week and discuss the bill. Expect to hear more as it comes in...
Note: I am proud to work as a new media volunteer for the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign. The views expressed in this piece are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign.
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