Oregon has resisted joining its neighbors to the north and south in establishing overtime pay for farm workers, but one business is doing it on its own.
With the new year, Willamette Valley Vineyards will mirror Washington’s new law phasing in time-and-half overtime pay at declining weekly-hour thresholds — 55 hours in 2022, 48 in 2023 and 40 in 2024.
The winery is also hiking base pay 6.2% in the new year, several months ahead of its standard compensation review, it said.
“If we don’t look after our farm worker families, we won’t have them,” CEO Jim Bernau said. “What they are facing now is unprecedented in my experience. People who are at the lower wage rates are the most vulnerable to these rapid increases in food, housing, and transportation costs. They don’t have a lot of options.”
The winery has about 45 full-time, year-round agriculture workers. When harvest comes, that number grows to 135.
Current vineyard worker base pay ranges from $13 to $17 an hour, Bernau said, with crew supervisors averaging $21.50 and managers $24.25, not including incentives, bonuses and other perks such as health insurance, 401(k) match, paid vacation and sick leave.
Willamette Valley Vineyards is a rare publicly traded Oregon wine company. It had revenue of $27.7 million in 2020 and earned a $3.4 million profit as sales through distributors and online sales surged during the pandemic. Net income is down 28.1% through the first nine months this year, mainly due to rising costs,...
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