Under siege

New York dairy farmers must feel like they are under siege.

Milk prices set by government formula continue to be woefully low, far below farmers' production costs. Farmers' milk checks do not provide enough to cover business expenses, let alone turn a profit.

Now with incredible timing comes government — in the form of the state Legislature — to control what dairy farmers pay to their workers and dictate how farm labor will be managed from now on.

The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act seeks to establish 40-hour work weeks and mandatory overtime pay, rest days, collective bargaining and workers' compensation to farm laborers.

The bill is a poor fit for dairy farms, where the cows must be milked, fed and cared for seven days a week. Workers — a term which includes everyone on the farm, including the owner — do not punch a time clock. To require time-and-a-half overtime pay for anyone working beyond a certain number of hours per day or week is not feasible.

Those advocating this measure are downstate legislators who likely are not very familiar with how dairy farms operate. They should listen to one legislator who has milked cows for a living — state Sen. Darrell Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

He has written: "Simply enforcing New York state's rigorous wage, housing, safety, and worker abuse provisions, and punishing those who violate these laws will protect farm families, farm workers and our rural communities."

They should heed what Jay M. Matteson, Jefferson County agricultural coordinator, has pointed out — that, according to a Cornell Cooperative Extension report last year, the average Jefferson County dairy farm employee was paid $11.75 per hour including benefits such as health care, workers' compensation, retirement, housing, clothing, food and utility costs.

Mr. Matteson has also noted that farmworkers not satisfied with their employment can move to another farm with higher pay and better benefits.

Dairy farmers are already constrained due to the crippling level of compensation they are receiving for their milk. To have state government step in to regulate farm labor costs would further weaken the family dairy farm.

Workers deserve equity, and New York dairy farmers are paying their employees decent wages and benefits. But what about equity for farmers? Their revenues are constrained by a pricing structure that needs to change, and their state government now seeks to dictate their labor costs.

Albany needs to drop this bill.