Farmers dodge a bullet, so far
-
- June
- 3
The Assembly today failed to take up a bill that would mandate overtime pay for farm workers – a proposal bitterly opposed by farmers who say it would add $200 million in costs to the struggling industry. The bill was on a list of bills the Assembly had planned to take up.
Assembly Agriculture Committee Chairman William Magee, D-Nelson, Madison County, who is leading the opposition, said bill sponsor Cathy Nolan, D-Queens, has agreed to discuss the bill with him before it is brought to the Assembly floor.
“I think that’s a good sign,’’ Magee said.
Advocates say there is no reason to treat farm workers different from other laborers, and that they deserve extra pay for long hours, at least one day off a week and other protections. Magee and other opponents say the uniquely seasonal nature of the business makes such rules impractical.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm by Jay Gallagher.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
