Guillermina Salguero and her husband have processed and packed cherries and pears in the Columbia River Gorge each of the last eight summers, taking jobs in both Washington and Oregon and sometimes putting in 70 hours a week.
“Ten hours a day, seven days a week for about two months with no break,” Salguero explained.
Salguero and her husband were among a few farmers who attended a Latino Conservation Week event at a Hood River church in July. Many were still out picking cherries in nearby fields late into the evening.
Before 2021, the couple did not consistently get overtime pay for the 30 or more hours a week they logged above what most in the U.S. consider an average workweek of 40 hours.
But when Washington passed a law two years ago mandating farmworkers receive overtime pay for each hour worked above 55 hours, the Salgueros decided to work mostly in Washington, rather than Oregon. This summer, Washington farmworkers get overtime pay for each hour worked above 48 hours and next summer, they’ll receive overtime pay for hours above 40 worked.
Salguero pulled out a recent pay stub in the church’s sanctuary. She typically makes $15.75 an hour packing cherries in Washington. When her overtime kicks in, she makes $23.61 per hour.
She and her husband would consider more work in Oregon, but they’re waiting to see how the state’s new overtime pay law rolls out in its first summer, and if farm owners comply.
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