Most farm workers at the time were black.
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LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: “I would like to applaud Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Fran Pavley, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, Senate President pro Tempore Kevin De León, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and the California legislature for adopting the most ambitious greenhouse reduction legislation in the United States”.
“We were already paying more per hour and more in overtime than virtually any other state in the union”, Caldwell says, “the fact of the matter is we also compete with Mexico, we pay more per hour than they pay for a full day’s wage in Mexico, our farmers are not going to be able to compete”. “We have a long way to go in our journey for equity in California”.
California was the first state to give farmworkers collective bargaining rights, workers compensation and unemployment service. “Let me be clear, on biology, periods are not luxuries and they are definitely not something women should be ashamed of, period!” AB 1066 changes the overtime rules for farmworkers by gradually lowering overtime thresholds in steps over the next four years so farmworkers will eventually earn overtime after an 8-hour day. Here in the U.S. Today, Governor Brown corrected a historic wrong and set an example for other states to follow.
“California farmers will have no choice but to avoid even higher costs of production and they will utilize a number of strategies, including reducing work shifts and production of crops that require large numbers of employees”, he said.
The new rules will take effect in 2022 for most farms and 2025 for operations with 25 or fewer employees. “I commend Gov. Brown for ensuring strong, sensible safeguards for farmworkers and their families, and I commend the California legislature for their ongoing efforts to protect the most vulnerable workers in their state”.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, receives congratulations from Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers, after the Assembly approved her bill requiring farmworkers to receive overtime pay after working eight hours, at the Capitol, in Sacramento, Calif. Calif. Gov.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a national minimum wage, overtime and the 40-hour workweek among work standards, exempted farmworkers.
“This is about equality under the law”, he said. Farming groups warned it will cause severe hardships for one of California’s largest industries.
However, many in the agricultural community are disappointed with the new law.
“It’s going to differ in the sense that there will be other protections under their contract, but when it comes to getting their overtime pay they will get their overtime pay”, said Romero.
Gonzalez, a former labor leader and the daughter of an immigrant farmworker, told the Capital Press in an email earlier this summer that she wanted to get the bill passed “for the 400,000 Californians who aren’t treated equally under the law … just because they work on a farm”.
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In all, the governor vetoed six bills that would have created new tax breaks or expanded an existing one. Effective Jan. 1, 2017, farmworkers will no longer be exempt from certain state law requirements regarding wages, meal breaks and other working conditions.
