On Aug. 29 the state Senate approved a bill to expand overtime pay for California farmworkers, who currently only receive overtime pay for shifts longer than 10 hours. Assembly Bill 1066 will provide farmworkers with a standard eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek.
The standards will be phased in from 2019 to 2022, with each year reducing the workday by a half hour and the workweek by five hours until they reach eight and 40 hours, respectively.
The new overtime regulations could significantly impact the economic climate in Santa Barbara County, where a huge agricultural industry has raised questions and concerns about farmworker rights. In Santa Barbara County last year, agricultural commodities grossed nearly $1.5 billion according to the 2015 Crop Report from the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.
The Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) reacted to the bill’s passage with celebration, calling it a “historic victory” in a news release.
“This is a huge step forward for justice and equality for the most overworked, underpaid people in our community who put food on all our tables,” CAUSE Executive Director Maricela Morales said in the release.
But that’s not how everyone feels—The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in California, for example, said the bill would have “devastating impacts.”
“This mandate does not consider the thousands of agricultural workers who will lose their jobs and the billions of dollars in lost crop production resulting from these new overtime regulations,” NFIB California State Executive Director Tom Scott said in a statement.
Scott implored Gov. Jerry Brown to veto the bill. Brown’s decision is pending.
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.