Almost all of New York’s workers begin to get overtime pay after working 40 hours a week. Yet under state law, farmworkers only get it after working 60 hours a week. Our work is tiring, and we suffer from injuries from repetitive work and the general nature of farm work — but we do it to ensure there’s food on our family’s tables. Collectively, we have raised 10 children and have seven grandchildren, all of whom have relied on our paychecks. They are why we work in an industry which so few want to work in, and work such long and difficult hours.
Farm work is very much dependent on the season, the weather and the ripeness of the produce. While there are in fact times of the year when we do work well more than 60 hours per week, other times we may come just under that. But under current state law, we could work 10-hour shifts for six days in a row and just be paid our regular rate of pay.
Farmworkers are predominately undocumented Latino workers. For many of us our status in this country means our bosses can treat us as disposable, pay us subminimum wages and threaten deportation. When employers are allowed to manipulate you to work in extreme conditions for hours on end, it’s no different than indentured servitude. To many people, we are the nameless and faceless newly deemed “essential” workers who helped put food on your tables during the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, for decades we have been subjected to inherently racist treatment and as such our rights as workers have...
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