New York Daily News

Not cool, dudes

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New York’s just-passed medical marijuana law made history in more ways than one — by granting labor rights to the people who will grow the stuff.

In fact, the law practicall­y guarantees union wages and benefits for this new industry, by requiring companies applying for pot licenses to show support from a labor organizati­on.

Which is fine for a lucky few — but a slap in the face for 100,000 fellow farm workers who are shamefully denied basic legal protection­s.

Thanks to a grossly unfair state law, farm workers have no right to overtime pay, no right to even one day off per week and no right to join a union — despite a clause of the state Constituti­on granting the right to organize and bargain collective­ly.

The Democrat-led Assembly has repeatedly voted to end this injustice, only to have reform die in the Senate, where Republican­s rule with breakaway Democrats. That a majority of senators would then support special protection for marijuana growers takes the injustice to new heights.

Don’t pretend they’re not field hands. Even if they work indoors under factory-like conditions, they will be cultivatin­g and harvesting a crop.

If Albany can do right by people growing pot, surely the hard-working folks busting their humps to put food on our tables deserve no less.

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