The New York State Legislature yesterday approved sweeping farm labor legislation that would give farmworkers the same employment rights as workers in other industries. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the measure into law.
The Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act recognizes farm workers as “employees” under the the New York State Employment Relations Act, providing for the right to organize and collectively bargain. It does not provide the right to strike.
The act grants time-and-a-half overtime pay to farmworkers after 60 hours a week. It also requires 24 hours of consecutive rest per week, allowing the worker to choose to work with overtime pay. The act expands unemployment insurance and disability insurance coverage to farmworkers and establishes eligibility for disability benefits.
The measure was opposed by the N.Y. Farm Bureau, which said it had worked hard to develop farm labor legislation that would protect the combined interests of farms and farmworkers, but could not support it because last-minute changes to the bill made it unacceptable.
All three East End state lawmakers voted against the bill, which passed the Assembly 94-54 and the Senate 40-22.
State Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) said during debate on the Senate floor that the legislation has the “great potential” of driving small family farms out of business, resulting in the loss of farmland to development.
”I don’t think the sponsor realizes that this bill has enormous potential for changing the face of agriculture in our state,” LaValle said.
“Farmers cannot afford more regulations, we are going to see produce prices rise and hundreds of farms go out of business as a result of this legislation,” Second District Assemblymember Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) said in a statement.
“What the proponents of this bill don’t understand is that farming is not like an ordinary business venture,” Palumbo said. “There are many variables that are beyond the farmer’s control, such as weather, growth of crops, disease and other factors creating an unpredictable work schedule. Some days they work for three hours, others they work for 19. The proponents of this bill did not take these concerns into consideration and the bill will be devastating to the farmers of this state,” he said.
Farmworker advocates and proponents of the bill argued that farmworkers should have the same labor rights other workers already have.
“It is fitting that today on Juneteenth, legislators are finally delivering a measure of justice to farmworkers more than 80 years after a Jim Crow-era law denied them basic rights granted to everyone else,” NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said.
“The workers on whom we depend for the food on our tables must be treated humanely and with dignity, like any other hardworking New Yorker. That includes the right to organize, a day of rest, overtime pay, and more.”
Last month, farmworkers gained the right to organize and collectively bargain after a state appeals court ruled in their favor (see prior story) but the bill passed yesterday goes further.
If signed into law by the governor, the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act will take effect Jan. 1, 2020.
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