ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York farmworkers are hoping a legal challenge might tip the scales in their favor after years of protesting a Jim Crow era loophole in state law that prevents them from unionizing.
Nearly 100 advocates and migrant workers rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday against state law that prevents them from organizing for better working conditions and overtime pay.
While the New York constitution guarantees workers the right to unionize, state law since the 1930s has excluded agricultural workers, a provision that advocates say allows for dangerous and inhumane job conditions.
“Because this one group is denied and called out, frankly, everything I eat tastes a little bit bitter because I know there’s an injustice,” said Episcopalian priest Michael Phillips of Saugerties, who has been advocating with the movement for 22 years.
New York Farm Bureau has opposed efforts to change the law for nearly two decades, arguing small farms could not afford the higher labor costs and strikes that might ensue.
“Limiting hours or having workers walk off the job because of a strike are not feasible when dealing with perishable food and animals that need to be milked and cared for,” said a statement released Tuesday by the Bureau.
The Farm Bureau says farm income is falling fast and legislation requiring overtime could accelerate the decline. A report by agricultural credit provider Farm Credit East estimates that adding overtime pay for workers once New York’s minimum wage hikes to $12.50 upstate could result in a drop in gross farm sales of $2.5 billion and decreases in agricultural employment in New York state.
But the New York Civil Liberties Union calls the issue a human rights violation and last year filed a lawsuit challenging the law as unconstitutional on behalf of Crispin Hernandez, a worker on a dairy farm in Lowville who said he and his fellow workers were forced to work hours in dangerous conditions.
Hernandez said workers were physically abused by employers and denied medical treatment for injuries.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, both Democrats, have said they would not seek to defend the law in the face of the lawsuit.
The Farm Bureau last year was granted the right to intervene in the challenge and is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, saying the issue should be decided by the Legislature.
This year’s legislation is pending in committees in both the Democratic-led Assembly and Republican-led Senate.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.