The Angry Farmer Act
There has been no other cause of anger among farmers in California than Assembly Bill 1066. The measure, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-80, who might become our state senator in the near future), has been sponsored by 20 other lawmakers, seeks to amend a 40-year-old legal provision enacted originally by Gov. Jerry Brown during his first term in office.
Even though Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 that established the minimum wage and overtime pay, among other measures, it did not include farmworkers and the California State Legislature exempted all agricultural workers three years later from statutory requirements of overtime.
In 1976, then-Gov. Brown enacted legislation that modified the standard for workers by establishing a 10-hour workday and 60hour week.
The bill introduced by Gonzalez would mandate gradually phasing in standards for farmworkers with half-hour-per-day increments beginning in 2019 until reaching eight hours in overtime and annual five-hour-perweek increments in working weeks until the 40-hour standard. The phasing concludes in 2022, but the governor would be given the power to temporarily suspend the phase-in of overtime before January 2022 if the minimum wage increase is suspended based on economic conditions.
The bill has already been endorsed by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who went on to say regarding the proposal, “It reflects our shared commitment to fair and humane working conditions for those whose labor feed our nation and much of the world.”
According to Gonzalez, two years ago ranches and farms in California brought in $54 billion in revenue while more than 90 percent of California farmworkers are Latino and four out of every five are immigrants who earn an average of $14,000 a year.
“California’s farm workers perform backbreaking labor to put food on our tables and feed the entire world, yet we maintain outdated and unfair rules to pay them less for their grueling work than we tolerate in any other job,” said Gonzalez on her Assembly webpage. “AB 1066 is our opportunity to establish basic fairness that, for the first time in our history, treats farmworkers with the same respect as everyone else.”
As per the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), there is little time for the bill to get approval. The deadline is Wednesday, when the legislative session finishes. On Monday, AB 1066 was approved in state Senate, even though it was killed in June after receiving a 38-35 vote, just three short of the 41-vote majority needed. And among those voting “Aye” days ago for the bill was state Sen. Ben Hueso (D-40).
To no surprise, the UFW has been lobbying in the Legislature in favor of the bill. When its leader Arturo Rodriguez visited the Valley recently, he said the union was going to fight for this measure.
Yesterday, Gonzalez and hundreds of farmworkers, lawmakers, activists and community allies from all over the state rallied at the State Capitol south steps in Sacramento in favor of AB 1066, which was supposedly scheduled for hearing hours later in the Lower Chamber.
The proposal has caused commotion among farmers in the state, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses in California that represents around 22,000 members.
NFIB State Executive Director Tom Scott said the bill would have a devastating impact on farmers, businesses and workers by resulting in the reduction of annual income per farmworker of $4,500, $5.4 billion loss in crop production and 78,000 jobs lost.
“NFIB is frustrated to see bad public policy revived in the final days of the legislative session just because one legislator wants a political victory,” Scott said. “Our requirement for daily overtime is already the most expensive.”
A few weeks ago, Holtville farmer Jack Vessey told me that although he would be able to adapt to the bill’s provisions, his business would get hurt, especially his employees. The proposal will make him adjust the company’s work schedules in order to keep him afloat, given this mandate will surely make it harder to do business in California.
Regardless of the outcome at the legislation of the governor’s desk, three things are clear about the bill. First, the provisions bring equality among workers no matter the industry they work at. Secondly, if voted down, the proposal will come back in the next years. Lastly, fairness in this case will have a costly impact to many in the state, except those in public office.