Lawmakers kill farm labor overtime bill

After the California Assembly narrowly vote down a bill to grant overtime pay to farm workers, a United Farm Worker official said the union isn’t done with the issue.

“We knew this was going to be a tough battle, no matter what,” Armando Elenes, third vice president of the UFW, said after the Assembly vote Thursday.

Elenes said the agricultural industry has a history of fighting legislation that benefits farm laborers, including requirements to provide shade and access to clean water for field workers. A similar overtime bill was opposed by the industry and killed by state legislators in 2010, he noted.

The latest overtime legislation, Assembly Bill 2757, the “Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016,” stems from agricultural workers being exempted from the 1938 federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which established the minimum wage, along with record-keeping rules, child labor standards and overtime pay eligibility for most industries.

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For industries except farm labor, overtime pay starts after employees work eight hours any day within a 40-hour-standard work week.

That changed in California in 1976, when Jerry Brown — in his first round as governor — approved a modified standard that allowed farm worker overtime pay to begin after laborers work 10 hours a day in a 60-hour-standard week.

In the new legislation, sponsored by the UFW and authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, the eight-hours of work in a 40-hour week standard would apply to farm workers as well.

When it came up for a vote on Thursday, the majority of the 73 Assembly members who cast votes on the bill actually supported it, with 38 aye and 35 nay votes.

Seven Assembly members abstained from casting votes.

But to pass, AB 2757 needed a majority of the full Assembly to approve it — at least 41 votes, regardless of the abstentions — so it failed.

Among those who votes no were Devon Mathis, R-Visalia, and Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, who represents Tulare County, the nation’s top-producing county for agricultural goods.

Mathis was among the members who spoke about the bill prior to the vote, telling his fellow legislators, “The problem with the bill ... they’re trying to put ag work in the box of a 9-to-5 [job].”

In an interview on Friday, Mathis said that agricultural workers can have periods where they’re working 40-hour weeks, but frequently — because of weather, harvest periods and other issues out of their control — farmers need their employees to work well beyond eight-hour days.

“They’re getting paid for the job,” and for all the hours they work, he said, adding that “they get paid quite well. In our area, they get paid more than minimum wage.”

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“We’re happy that the overtime rules are remaining as they were. We’re pleased to see the Assembly recognizes the ag sector is different from the other sectors in California,” added Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.

Monterey County is the fourth top-producing county of agricultural goods in the nation.

“The nature of our specialty crops indicates short harvest cycles, and we need to be in the fields and the groves when the crops are ready to go, and most workers depend on 10-hour work days and six-day work cycles,” Groot said.

And if the overtime bill had passed the Assembly and Senate and had been signed by the governor, the resultant added labor costs likely would have forced many farming operations to restrict overtime wherever possible or bring in additional workers.

Brian Little, director of employment policy for the California Farm Bureau Federation, which was among industry organizations that opposed AB 2757, agreed.

He noted that higher overtime costs combined with California already in the process of raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour probably would force some farmers to not pick some crops or do other tasks, as the added costs might become too prohibitive.

Officials with the state Farm Bureau also maintained that the added costs of additional overtime pay, combined with the higher minimum wage and various other costs to meet regulatory requirements in California, likely would drive some farming operations out of the state.

But the farm industry made similar arguments claims of financial calamities that would stem from changing their labor practices – including the shade and water requirements – and they continue to perform, Elenes said.

“They said it hasn’t been the right time,” he said “It hasn’t been the right time for 80 years, and, unfortunately, people continued to vote for discriminating against farm workers.”

Concessions were made in AB 2757 to address some industry concerns, including phasing in the additional overtime pay over four years rather than all at once, Elenes noted.

“Anybody who handles the food in the supply chain has the right to overtime,” he said.

Although Assemblyman Mark Stone was aware of the cost concerns among farming interests, he voted in support of the bill, as did Luis Alejo, D-Salinas.

Neither man could be reached for comment on Friday, but Stone’s legislative director, Arianna Smith, said her boss has a long history on supporting fair-wage legislation, and “he felt it was necessary to provide overtime for agricultural workers.”

“I believe the bill should have passed,” said Graciela Martinez, a former director of the American Friends Service Committee’s now defunct Proyecto Campesino, a former Tulare County-based program to provide advocacy and education for farm workers.

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She noted that farm workers don’t make a lot an hour, and there often are periods of weeks or months between harvest cycles when there’s little or no work available for them.

As such 10- to 12-hour shifts, which are common during harvest and other “peak” periods in grown seasons are important for farm workers to make ends meet over the year, and a few extra dollars for overtime hours would further help them.

“If, after eight hours, my husband was bringing in two-and-a-half hours [pay at] time and a half, that would allow me to buy an extra chicken, eggs,” said Martinez, herself a former farm laborer. “It would allow us to buy a pair of shoes for our child when they need them. A few extra dollars can help. Some of these people are living really, really tight.”

But the fight over farm labor overtime probably isn’t over, as an aide for Gonzalez said Friday that she probably will look at introducing another bill in a future legislative session.

As for the UFW, Elenes said, “We’re going to consider our options and see what we can do to continue pushing forward.”