Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have given farmworkers overtime pay for working more than 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, according to the LA Times.
The bill, SB 1121 passed in the California Assembly earlier this month and would have reversed a 1941 state law exempting agricultural employees from being paid 1.5 times their normal hourly rate for working over 8 hours in a day. The 1941 exemption was "modified in 1976 when the Industrial Welfare Commission ordered overtime pay after 10 hours on the job and for all work on the seventh day of a week after putting in six straight days of 10 hours or more." To read a US Ag&Food Policy blog post on this issue, click here. To view the bill text, history, and other information on SB 1121, click here.
In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger expressed that while SB 1121 was well-intended, "it would not improve the lives of California's agricultural workers and instead will result in additional burdens on California businesses, increased unemployment, and lower wages." He continued, "In order to remain competitive against other states that do not have such wage requirements, businesses will simply avoid paying overtime" by hiring more crews which will result in lower take home pay for workers. He also stated that the inherent "difference" in agricultural work -- that it is seasonal, subject to unpredictable weather, and involves perishable goods -- justifies the exemption.
Schwarzenegger mentioned that California was already the most progressive state, giving farmworkers overtime pay for working over 10 hours per day and 60 hours per week whereas "federal law exempts workers employed in agriculture from overtime pay altogether." He also stated the California was the first in the nation to enact outdoor heat stress regulations to keep agricultural workers safe.
Senate majority leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter), sponsor of the bill, criticized the governor saying that he was "turning his back on history." Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said that the "governor's decision was a blow to fairness and justice."
Judith Redmond, manager of an organic produce farm in Capay Valley, said that the change to an 8 hour day could hurt both consumers and farmers, and in effect, would turn farm work "into a minimum-wage job" with farmworkers making less overall.
To read the LA Times story, click here.
To read Governor Schwarzenegger's veto statement, click here.
Posted: 07/29/2010
