Farmers blast overtime pay proposal

At a time when dairy farmers are facing low revenue for milk and high production costs, many of them say the last thing they need is a law mandating time-and-a-half pay for overtime hours.

"Farmers and farm workers typically work significantly more than 40 hours a week," said Charles L. Eastman, partner in Eastman Farms LLC, Ellisburg. "Workers are working those hours because that's what they want."

He said the cost of paying overtime would at least force farmers to hire more workers for fewer hours. At worst, it could force farms out of business.

"It puts New York farmers in a tough situation," Mr. Eastman said. "We already have a hard enough time competing. Our cost of production is one of the highest in the country."

Overtime pay is just one of the mandates that would come from the Farmworker Omnibus Bill. The bill is scheduled for a floor vote this week in the Assembly as A.1867 and passed the Senate's Labor Committee Monday as S.2247. The Senate version is now headed to the Finance Committee.

New York Farm Bureau opposes the bill, saying it will cost farms more than $200 million per year.

"If passed, this bill would put our industry into a major tailspin and wreck the already struggling upstate and Long Island economy," said Dean Norton, President of New York Farm Bureau and a Batavia dairy farmer.

Mr. Norton spoke at a press conference in Albany on Monday afternoon.

"The tragic irony of the situation is that the sponsors are primarily from New York City or urban areas, and most of them have never been on a farm," Mr. Norton said. "If the bill's sponsors spent some time understanding the issue, talking to farmers and farm workers, they would know that the bill doesn't actually benefit the worker."

The Assembly version of the omnibus bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Catherine T. Nolan, D-Queens, is scheduled to have a vote before the full house this week. That house has passed similar legislation before.

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, said she will vote against the bill. Calls to the office of Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, R-Gouverneur, were not returned.

A similar bill, S.5212, which includes just the overtime and day off proposals, also passed the Labor Committee on Monday. That bill has no Assembly companion and was sent to the Codes Committee.

Both the chairmen and ranking minority members of both houses' Agriculture Committees oppose the bills.

Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, said at a press conference, "Proponents of this bill have all the best of intentions, but this bill would hurt farm workers and farmers alike. It does not do what they intend it to do."

Sen. Catharine M. Young, R-Olean, said, "The only way to stop it is for it never to come to the floor for a vote."

She is the ranking minority member on the Agriculture Committee. She called the Times and criticized Sen. Aubertine for not quashing the bill in committee by talking to Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith. Mr. Aubertine, however, is not on the committee that will send the bill to the floor.

She said union special interests are driving the bill.

"If it is allowed to come to the floor, people are going to have to be held accountable," she said. "There's a chance it will pass and it will be devastating for the upstate economy."

Drew Mangione, Sen. Aubertine's communications director, replied, "If Senator Young has nothing better to do with her time than call the media to attack Senator Aubertine, maybe she could spend some of her time showing her friends Robach, Marcellino and Padavan how bad these bills are for farmers."

Sen. Aubertine and at least two other Senate Democrats in the 32-30 majority oppose the legislation, while those three Republican senators have signed on as co-sponsors to the omnibus bill.

"Senator Aubertine has been working hard to show his colleagues the shortfalls of these bills and ensure that there are not enough votes in the majority to pass it," Mr. Mangione said. "We're hopeful it will not come to the floor for a vote because it would be devastating to farmers if it passed."

Farm Bureau spokesman Peter A. Gregg said California is the only state with similar overtime requirements.

"This puts farmers in New York at a huge disadvantage," he said, comparing New York with other states in the region and other countries, including Canada and China.

Among other provisions, the omnibus bill would also allow farm workers to unionize, mandate one day off per week for farm workers, call on farms to provide unemployment insurance, workers compensation and disability insurance for injuries off the job.

According to the Farm Bureau, farm workers already have stronger protections in the state than under federal law. Medium- and large-sized farms already provide unemployment insurance. All farms follow a state sanitary code for migrant and seasonal housing that is stricter than the federal code.

Farms provide free housing, transportation and utilities for their workers. New York is one of two states with a housing program for farm workers. Farm employees also have work agreements for the type of work, wages, work hours, pay period, benefits and vacation and other arrangements.

"Our farms pay well — it's in our best interests to treat the farm workers the best we can," Mr. Gregg said.

The state's minimum wage is $7.15 an hour. In Jefferson County, the average wage for farm employees in 2006 was $11.36 an hour, according to agricultural coordinator Jay M. Matteson. The roughly 1,000 farm employees support 2,500 other jobs in the county.

The day-off mandate would hurt grape and vegetable growers in the region, he said.

"You can only harvest for a short amount of time," he said. "The biggest obstacle already is labor."