ALBANY — The state Farm Labor Wage Board voted 2 to 1 Tuesday to recommend to the Hochul administration that New York gradually reduce the overtime threshold for farm workers in New York from 60 hours per week to 40 hours.
SOLE OBJECTION
The sole objection came from David Fisher, president of the New York Farm Bureau, the leading advocate for the thousands of working farms in New York.
“I knew the cards were stacked against the position of my organization and what agriculture truly believes is best for farms, farm workers and the food supply,” Fisher told his fellow board members, Brenda McDuffie and Denis Hughes,
Fisher complained the report accepted by Hughes and McDuffie failed to mention that an analysis of the impact of reducing the overtime threshold would prompt employers to reduce hours for workers, which in turn would spur most migrants to spurn jobs in New York and go to other states where they could work more hours.
“The facts can’t be ignored even if the report doesn’t give them their due diligence,” Fisher said.
TO PROTECT WORKERS
McDuffie, former head of the Buffalo Urban League, had a different view, stating: “We believe this decision protects the rights of farm laborers while taking into account the needs of farmers.”
She also argued the board has a “duty to protect tens of thousands of farm workers and align their rights with those in other industries.”
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