Oregon legislators have once again introduced a bill that would bring overtime pay to the thousands of agricultural workers in the state.
It’s a bill likely to pit farmworkers against farmers, and — at the Capitol — Democrats against Republicans.
Many farm owners strongly oppose the measure, saying the costs the bill would bring are unsustainable for most owners. They also warn about having to cut hours and automating or reducing what they grow. Some say they will be forced to sell their farms to larger corporations.
Farmworkers and their advocates say it is long overdue. Changing the law would eliminate a practice rooted in white supremacy, they say. And they say it would bring relief to a labor force where individuals make $15,000 to $19,000 a year — far below the average individual annual income in Oregon of $33,763.
At the behest of white southern farmers, the federal government excluded farmworkers and domestic workers from the landmark provisions of the Federal Fair Labor Standards in 1938. The agricultural and domestic labor force was mostly Black then. Today, it is mostly Latino.
Few states have passed legislation to guarantee overtime protections to agricultural workers. With House Bill 4002, Oregon would become the third, following similar laws in California and Washington. Four other states have laws that cover overtime for some, but not all, agricultural workers.
Oregon's bill would phase in overtime requirements over five years with growers required to pay...
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