Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson (D-Rochester/Chili/Henrietta) announced the Assembly passed the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act that he sponsored to extend basic protections for approximately 100,000 farm workers in New York (A.1792-A). This legislation closes a loophole in the New York State Labor Relations Act to bring labor laws for farm workers up to par with other workers.

“With the long hours and the hard physical labor farm workers put in every day, it’s absurd that they aren’t given the same basic rights that other workers often get,” Assemblymember Bronson said. “We have to be fair to hardworking farm workers and protect them from further injustice. This bill would bring equality to one of New York’s most important industries, creating healthier and better working conditions for all our farm workers.”

Specifically, the bill would grant collective bargaining rights to farm laborers, in addition to allowing farm workers one day of rest each week. The legislation would also:

• establish an eight-hour work day;
• pay farm workers time and a half overtime after eight hours of work in any day or 40 hours in any week;
• give farm workers the same workers’ compensation, disability and unemployment insurance protections as other workers;
• stop allowing certain farm workers to be paid less than the minimum wage;
• expand sanitary rules to cover all farms and food processing labor camps that house migrant workers;
• require foremen to inform the employer when a worker gets hurt on the job; and
• make it illegal to fire an employee for reporting injuries suffered on the job.

The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act was first drafted almost a decade ago, and has passed the Assembly four times. The measure has received the full support of several organizations, including: New York State NAACP, the Hispanic Federation, the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York State Catholic Conference.