The New York Farm Laborers Wage Board formally sent its recommendation to the state labor commissioner Tuesday that the farmworker overtime threshold be lowered. Farm labor advocates are calling for the recommendations to be approved as soon as possible while farmers say the process was stacked against them.
The wage board has been taking testimony for over two years regarding a proposal to lower the overtime threshold for farmworkers from 60 to 40 hours over ten years. At their final meeting Tuesday evening, Buffalo Urban League past president and board chair Brenda McDuffie was one of the two members of the three-member board who voted to forward the recommendation to the state Labor Commissioner.
“We believe that this decision protects the right of farm laborers while taking in account the needs of farmers.”
AFL-CIO past president Denis Hughes also voted to approve the report. New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher, the third member of the board, eviscerated the report for what he called multiple inaccuracies and conclusions based on opinions.
“It’s not a full and accurate depiction of the data and testimony gathered during the two-year long process. The report written by the Department of Labor justifies the Wage Board recommendations based on cherry-picked data and inflammatory opinions.”
Fisher held a press conference with the Grow New York Farms Coalition soon after the meeting. Northeast Dairy Producers Association Vice Chair Keith Kimball said he is most disappointed by the wage board process.
"Regardless of the outcome this process was not fair. It was not fair to farmers. It was not fair to consumers and most importantly it was not fair to farm workers and the outcome was decided long before the wage board process ever started. The wage board members were appointed 2 to 1 specifically omitting our own state expert and Commissioner on Agriculture to get the desired votes.”
Meanwhile supporters of lowering the threshold met virtually on Wednesday. Hispanic Federation President and CEO Frankie Miranda called on the Labor Commissioner to swiftly adopt the wage board’s recommendations.
“Granting farm workers a 40 hour work week will mark an end to a legacy of Jim Crow that has been allowed to continue in our state for over 80 years and at last grant farm workers the overtime protection that virtually every other worker enjoys.”
New York Farm Coalition member and New York State Vegetable Growers Association President Brian Reeves finds that reference disturbing.
“The reason why farms have been treated differently has nothing to do with prejudice or Jim Crow. It has to do with the weather and climate and the nature of our work and the perishability of our products. There is one line in the report that says there’s been no evidence of racial discrimination or injustice on farms in New York state.”
Migrant Clinicians Network Founding Medical Director Dr. Ed Zuroweste noted that as a society we have moved away from a work week longer than 40 hours without overtime because it is dangerous to health.
“It makes no sense that farmworkers who do some of the most treacherous and important work are carved out of labor protections guaranteed to nearly everyone else. The right to a 40 hour work for farm workers should be understood first and foremost as a labor protection not as a way for farm workers to make more money.”
The labor commissioner must decide whether to approve the recommendations by October 21st.
