Farmworkers at State House advocate for hike in their minimum wage, now at $8

BOSTON — Even as supporters of a proposal to elevate the state’s minimum wage for agricultural workers, currently set at $8 an hour, visited legislators Tuesday in the State House, experts in the state’s farming industry believe the bill is unnecessary.

“We have no problem losing the agricultural minimum wage,” said Karen Schwalbe, executive director of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation. Due to the nature of farms in Massachusetts and the difficulty attracting and retaining workers, she is unaware of any farmers who fail to pay at least the state’s $15 minimum wage.

“I don’t know of any farmer who can pay the agriculture minimum wage and attract workers,” said Schwalbe. “Farmers understand the value of their laborers; they can’t work the farms without them.”

The federation is a grassroots organization, its policies and priorities set at the local level by individual farmer members. Known as the “Voice of Agriculture” in Massachusetts, the federation plays a critical role in shaping public policy locally, statewide and nationally.

Bill could have unintended consequences

It’s the unintended consequences of the bill that would legislate for “worst possible scenarios” that worries Schwalbe. She cited the uncertainty of how overtime could be structured and the possibility of Massachusetts farms losing workers to neighboring states if farmers can’t afford to pay overtime wages.

“Some workers want to work as many hours as possible. If a farmer can’t pay the mandatory overtime, they could go work in other states, even if the pay there is just the base rate,” Schwalbe said.

The measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Adam Gomez and Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, both Springfield Democrats, would bring farmworker salaries to the state’s prevailing minimum wage, currently at $15 an hour. The bill would also allow workers to accrue one hour of paid time off for every 40 hours worked and establish 55 hours as the threshold for paying overtime.

To sweeten the deal, the bill proposes a tax credit for employers paying overtime wages, establishing a 30% credit of overtime wages paid to year-round workers and 50% credit of overtime wages paid to seasonal workers.

Currently, only field work is exempt from overtime regulations. Laborers performing other farm-related jobs, such as clearing the fields after harvest, washing and packaging produce, delivering it to local markets and working at a farm stand, are entitled to overtime pay.

Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, said he appreciates the intent of the bill to support labor in agriculture.

“My concern is that this will do more harm than good,” Fattman said. “Farms are stretched thin as it is and adding a wage component would increase costs, adding to the demands that come with trying to stay competitive in an industry that struggles to keep pace with the convenience and lower prices found at grocery stores."

Many farms sell direct to consumer

Massachusetts has some 7,000 farms, many of them small family-run enterprises that are not wholesale operations but sell direct to the consumer. Products are sold through farm stands, at farmers markets and through CSAs (community supported agriculture) direct to food banks and restaurants. State programs that support low-income consumers through direct return of SNAP benefits used to purchase fresh local products and the Healthy Incentives Program also offer direct supports to farmers.

The biggest pressures on farmers come from the lack of labor and its high cost, and the lack of land and development pressures.

“If the berries have to come in, the asparagus, the tomatoes, the farmers are not sitting while workers are picking. They are right there in the fields, harvesting alongside,” Schwalbe said.

Few farms in Massachusetts exceed 500 acres of worked land.

“The reports that laborers working all day in the sun are not allowed bathroom or water breaks. I don’t know where that is happening,” Schwalbe said, adding that the federation has about 3,000 members including family farms, students and advocates. If there are those types of abuses, she hopes workers can find alternate employers. The federation is in support of ensuring all state laws are followed by employers regarding wages and benefits.

However, workers visiting the State House to advocate for the passage of the bill, currently in the Joint Committee on Revenue, did cite instances of abuse.

“We labor in the rain, under the hot sun, without rest periods, water breaks, bathrooms. It’s hard work,” said Patricia Rosales, an organizer with Pioneer Valley Workers Center representing about 450 area laborers. Rosales, who came to the United States from El Salvador 14 years ago, spent six years in the fields of Western Massachusetts farms working in produce.

“We worked with vegetables, with tomatoes, cilantro, onions, carrots. We spread fertilizer, hoed the rows, washed the harvest,” Rosales said. She opted for field work, as do many immigrants, because it is more accessible than factory work in Central and Western Massachusetts. And employers are not as strict about requesting a Social Security number as employers in other fields.

“We are fighting for protections for the farmworkers,” Rosales said, explaining that often workers labor for hours to harvest crops, even up to 80 hours a week, without being paid overtime. There are no guaranteed bathroom or water breaks.

Laborers bring their own water, and if they want protections from chemical applications, they have to bring gloves and masks the days that fertilizers or pesticides are used.

“We are fighting for economic justice for field laborers,” Rosales said.

Massachusetts has roughly 13,000 permanent agricultural workers, spread throughout the state, with a high concentration of laborers in Hampden, Hampshire, Worcester and Franklin counties, home to about 50% of the state’s farms, according to the organizers. According to the 2017 U.S. Department of Agricultural census, they produce $475 million in commodities.

Other states have already revised agricultural laws to bring minimum wages into line with workers in other fields including California, Washington, Minnesota, Hawaii and New York, said Claudia Quintero, an attorney with the Central West Justice Center.

“Massachusetts is a state that prides itself on its progressive stance on workers’ rights, on environmental issues, on sustainable and organic agriculture, but it comes at a price,” Quintero said. “That price is paid by the farm laborer and their low wages.”

If Massachusetts fails to enact a measure protecting farmworkers, it will fall behind other states in protecting its workforce.

“Without a pay raise, the workers cannot afford to purchase the food they grow and harvest,” Quintero said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Mass. farmworkers, advocates urge hike in agricultural minimum wage