Let’s De-polarize the Farmworker Overtime Bill
Last week, the California Legislature passed a bill that could change the rate at which farmworkers get paid overtime. For those of us who are unaware of the current framework for farmworkers, they get paid overtime after working 10 hours, rather than the standard 8 hour workday. The bill proposes to reduce the overtime threshold for farmworkers down to 8 hours, overturning the precedent set by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). While AB 1066 sits on Jerry Brown’s desk waiting to be vetoed or passed into law, the media has framed the bill as two-dimensional, pitting hopeful farmworkers on one side and wary farmers (owner/operators) on the other. The trouble with polarizing the discourse of the overtime bill is that it diminishes the complexity of the issue, while letting the other demographic who should be affected, consumers, off the hook.
I am a farmworker and a consumer. I work for Say Hay Farms, a 40 acre organic vegetable and egg operation in the town of Esparto, CA. Well before working the standard 10 hour day on the farm, I was keenly aware of the paradox that exists in our brutal agricultural system: the folks that perform the most physically demanding work, which keeps us fed and sustained, get paid the least in our society. The beating heart of the bill is good. It will continue to make progress of treating farmworkers equally in the realm of employment rights, and will begin to clean up the legacy of a Jim Crow-era exclusion to the FLSA. But while the overtime bill takes an honest stab at attempting to pay farm employees fairly, it is unlikely that they will walk away making more money.
In conversation with Chris Hay, the owner/operator of Say Hay Farms, it became clear that the economic changes that come with the bill will be deeply felt by both farmers and their employees. “Sure, some farmworkers are going to be stoked. And yes, I believe we all should be making more money in agriculture. But where is that money going to come from? I would rather see a rise in minimum wage so that we can all afford better food.”
Chris continued to break down the expected extra costs of running his slim, 8 person crew who make $12-$15 an hour on the current 50–52 hour work week. If Governor Brown signs the bill into law, paying 10–12 hours in overtime per person per week could increase his costs by $30,000–$40,000 a year. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, well Chris will just make $35,000 less a year.’ I barely make $35,000 a year,” he admitted with a dark chuckle.
It’s important to note here that Chris Hay runs his farm with the goal of creating a workplace that is desireable for any member of the workforce, not just for those who we, as consumers, imagine to be picking our food. There’s an unspoken understanding, long instituted and deeply ingrained in our culture, that the most desperate members of our society (immigrant Latinos, namely) are the ones growing, picking, packing and distributing our food. That we have functioned on this paradigm for so long shows a deep disrespect for the important work farmworkers do, and is a symbol of the lack of value we place in the patient ritual of eating. Like any generalization, imaginging that farmwork is only fit for a certain type of person obscures the beauty and joy (along with the strain) of growing food.
Chris knows the truth about farm work, that’s it’s physically difficult, mentally challenging, and skilled (yes, skilled!), and he wants to compensate his employees justly for their hard work and dedication. That he pays employees $12–$15 an hour to harvest food for his CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members, farmers’ markets and wholesale accounts is a bit of an anomaly. In 2015 the mean hourly rate for farmworkers in California was $9.46, although that has gone up this year due to the minimum wage increase. Chris wants Say Hay Farms to extend the notion of economic sustainability to his employees, serving as a model offering well paid jobs that provide consistent, year round work.
If the bill is signed into law, the likely adjustment for Chris and the majority of farm owners is to decrease the current 50 hour week to a 40 hour week, and make up for the lack of labor hours by hiring more employees. While that sounds reasonable, normal, fair, and about 8 decades late, the reality is that even on Say Hay Farms, with Chris paying as close to a living wage as he can, a 40 hour work week at less than $15 an hour is hard to get by on. Earning the standard $10 an hour, at what is expected to drop from 50 to 40 hour workweeks is going to be a huge decrease in wages for over 825,000 California farmworkers. In short, while the overtime bill is designed to provide what Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez calls a “true equality for workers,” farmworkers are most likely going to see their hours and paychecks cut in a situation already marked by minimal earning potential.
As with most ills in our food system, I trace many of the root causes to the cheapening of food via an onslaught of policy, ranging from factory farming, to subsidization of commodity crops, to harmful free trade agreements that continually depress the domestic market. The repercussions are widespread, with a lasting cultural shift that has left us unwilling to spend money on that which sustains us. The cheapening of food is easily exemplified by the decrease in food expenditures over time. For example, in 1900, Americans spent over 40% of their budget on food. In 1950, with the ushering in of the mighty tractor and “get big or get out” business mandates, we spent less than 30%, and today we budget out a meager 6.4% of our annual expenditures on feeding ourselves. We can all readily imagine where we spend the other 93.6%, but no gadget or gismo or urban apartment is as precious or neccesary as food. Period.
The annual $20 billion federal subsidization of corn, soy, and wheat keep prices on commodity foods low. The combination of the massive industrialized food system with subsidized, cheap foodstuffs have dirtied our watersheds, riddled our lands with chemicals, and muddled our perception of what it costs to grow food. However, the true costs of the unhealthy food system we’ve created will continue to be paid in our children’s health, our shrinking life expectancy, and our warming climate. In the most wealthy nation in the world, it’s probably about time to spend a little more of our budget on feeding ourselves, considering we currently spend less on food than every other nation one earth.
With our unwillingness to pay the real cost of what it takes to grow fruits and vegetables in a sustainable way, let’s go back to Chris Hay’s question: Where is the extra money to pay farmwokers a fair wage going to come from? The vegetables and eggs Say Hay Farms sells at farmers’ markets are already on the top end of the price spectrum, reflecting the sustainable practices on the farm. Can he really expect eaters to pay more in order to comply with the long overdue overtime bill? Without answering that loaded question, can we at least consider us consumers to be part of the conversation when we are talking about how to right the many wrongs inherent in our food system?
As we await the expected signiture of Jerry Brown to pass AB 1066 into law, let’s think of ourselves as active particpants in this complex, high stakes food economy. Let’s remember that anyone growing and harvesting food– whether it’s the owner of a 40 acre organic farm in California, or a migrant worker in the Central Valley, or a 14 year old in Mexico–is working their asses off to keep us alive, and that regardless of what happens with the bill, the value of their work is immeasurable. So cough it up, folks. Because the conversation about raising wages for farmworkers shouldn’t just include farmers, their employees, and lawmakers. It needs to include us as responsible, grateful eaters at the table.
