The median annual income of California farmworkers is $14,000.
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The Assembly approved AB1066 44-32 on Monday, sending it to Democratic Gov.
AB 1066 was officially introduced by Assembly members Gonzalez and joint authors Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), Cristina Garcia (D-Downey), Roger Hernández (D-West Covina), Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Sr. The governor has not said if he will sign the measure.
“As workers who also are part of an industry that helps to put food on tables, we applaud the Legislature for fixing a historic wrong and giving farm laborers the same protections that all working people deserve”, said UFCW Western States Council Executive Director Jim Araby.
Under current law, California employers must pay time-and-a-half to farmworkers after 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week.
If signed into law by Brown, it would make California the first state in the country to bring farm worker pay in line with that of most workers.
Maria Diaz sorts green bell peppers along an outdoor conveyor belt on a farm 25 miles west of Sacramento, discarding leaves and stems quickly before peppers are swept away by a mini-roller coaster onto a tractor-trailer.
“Notably, my opponent Assemblyman Bill Dodd once again sided with wealthy agricultural interests and voted against farm workers and their families”, Yamada said. “Hours of work will be reduced and, as a effect, so will the workers’ paychecks”. “Farm laborers working for hourly wages are a foundation of California’s agriculture industry and our state’s entire economy, and today California has finally shown them some recognition for this”. “But this is in fact what farmworkers have asked us to do”.
State lawmakers have passed legislation that would expand overtime pay for farm workers.
Because farmworkers are unable to work some days due to weather or harvest schedules, they have historically preferred to work as many hours as possible on any given day.
“Rules that apply to typical 9 to 5 businesses can not be applied to the grape growing business because of its cyclical, labor intensive nature”, said Kim Stemler, executive director of the Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association.
The bill passed with no floor debate on Tuesday in the Assembly.
Across the country, agricultural workers are required to be paid the minimum wage, but there is no upper limit on how long they work. The bill is particularly important to Bonta, who was raised in La Paz, Calif., the headquarters of the United Farm Workers (UFW), where his parents organized Filipino American and Mexican American farmworkers. This “sleight of hand”, as Groot called it, is called “gut and amend”. Her original bill was defeated earlier this summer.
Cecil said farmers are going to be forced to change how they hire and pay employees and how many employees they have. Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
“A lot of them are really excited that it’s passed a lot are thankful some say it’s about time its passed and there is a lot of positive feedback”, says Santos.
“We’re asking for equality”, Gonzalez said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Senate: Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, No; Bill Monning, D-Monterey, Yes.
