Farm Bureau, Aubertine slam "compromise" of farmworkers bill

New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton today blasted a "compromise" version of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act that was introduced Thursday in the Senate, saying it will "jeopardize our famers' ability to produce local food for local people."

The new bill is reportedly identical to the version offered by Sen. Pedro Espada in a Dec. 14 meeting between supporters, including Mr. Espada and Justice for Farmworkers, and opponents, including Farm Bureu and Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent.

"The changes that they made in this bill are nothing that we have agreed to or compromise to, as the advocates are trying to claim," said Peter Gregg, a Farm Bureau spokesman. "We are totally against this bill. We're going to fight it as hard as we can."

Andrew G. Mangione, Mr. Aubertine's spokesman, said the new bill has the same fatal flaw as previous incarnations: it lacks a "clear analysis of the impact it would have both on our farms and our state finances."

"There are still major concerns left unanswered with this legislation, (and) additional questions that have been raised," he added. "And in the end, merely rushing through what one side claims is a compromise does not address the negative impacts this bill would have on our farm workers, on consumers and the agriculture industry as a whole."

Sen. John Sampson, the Democratic Conference leader, asked both sides at the conclusion of the Dec. 14 meeting to generate ideas that would bring both sides closer to an agreement.

Mr. Mangione said talks on the bill would continue, but did not know if the two sides meet again.

"The senator and Farm Bureau and others will not sit quietly and let a bill that is bad for our agriculture industry go through," he added.

Mr. Aubertine has added a form on his Web site to "join the fight" against the bill, which can be found here.