"When New York City Democrats forced this law on
Upstate farmers, we said it would have a devastating impact and it must be
fully repealed. Here we are just eight months into its implementation, during
one of the worst seasons farmers have seen, and already a wage board is
contemplating making even more harmful changes to hours employees can work.
This decision, especially in light of COVID-19, must be delayed so that insight
can be gained over a lengthy period of time as to how seasons and conditions
change from year to year. To make a determination now would just harm our
already suffering family farms and their hard workers," said Leader
Ortt.
“Farms in New York State have not yet completed even a
single growing season under the mandates of this burdensome new law, which took
effect on January 1, 2020. They are still grappling with the changes and trying
different strategies to comply with the 60-hour threshold while trying to keep
their operations afloat. It is incomprehensible that they are already being
confronted with the possibility that the threshold will be lowered even
further,” said Senator Borrello.
“Additionally, the COVID-19 crisis created fresh financial
hardships for farmers and unprecedented disruptions to the food supply chain.
Not only would it be terribly unfair to add to their difficulties right now,
this season has been anomaly, so it would be a mistake to base any long-term
decisions on this year’s experiences. For these and so many reasons, we need to
hit the pause button on this premature effort to evaluate a brand new law,” he
added. “While repeal of the law is the ultimate goal, our effort right now is
to prevent further damage and bring common sense to this issue by delaying any
decision on the 60-hour threshold until 2024.”
Passed in 2019, the Farm Workers Fair Labor Practices Act
granted year-round and seasonal farm employees many of the same labor rights
and benefits as workers in other industries. Those rights included collective
bargaining, housing protections, enhanced worker’s compensation protection and
overtime pay of one and a half times an employee’s regular wages after 60 hours
of work per week and/or if they choose to work on a designated day of rest.
The bill also mandated that the state Labor Commissioner
establish a farmworkers’ wage board to examine the overtime pay threshold and
consider whether it should be lowered even further. The current three-member
board includes former New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes, Buffalo
Urban League President Brenda McDuffie and New York Farm Bureau President David
Fisher.
Despite the insistence of struggling farmers across the
state that the measure could put them out of business, and projections from
farm industry associations showing that the measure could increase wage
expenses by a crippling 44 percent, a coalition of activists and downstate
lawmakers pushed the bill forward. The Governor signed the bill into law on
July 17, 2019 in Manhattan.
The legislation introduced by Senator Borrello and
co-sponsored by Senators Ortt, Helming, Jordan and Serino, would extend the
date that the wage board’s report must be submitted from December 31, 2020 to
December 31, 2024. This would allow for the collection of four years of data to
provide a truer picture of the impact of the 60-hour threshold on the finances
and operations of New York farms. Senator Borrello noted that “so many factors
can completely destroy a farm’s bottom line in a given year, whether it’s trade
issues, weather events, or, as we know all too well this year, a pandemic.”
The measure would also require the board to consider
additional factors in its decision-making, including wage and overtime rates in
neighboring states, the impact that COVID-19 has had on the agricultural
industry, total compensation, including other benefits such as housing and
insurance, and the supply and demand of farm employees.
