For more than 75 years, farmworkers have been subject to a different set of laws and workplace protections than the rest of us. While most Californians receive overtime pay when they work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, a loophole in the law blocked workers who pick our fruits and vegetables from being paid overtime until they worked 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week.
Why? Because corporate farmers convinced politicians their profits were more important than fairness. And so for years, these people who toiled in the field to put food on the table for all of our families were forced to do more than the rest of us to put food on the table for their own.
This year Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales took up the farmworker cause. For domestic workers, Sen. Connie Leyva carried the torch. Both of these women are tireless fighters for working people. Both have deep roots in the labor movement – Leyva was the former president of the California Labor Federation, and Gonzales ran the San Diego Labor Council.
Most importantly, both have inspired others to make a difference – from the countless workers who have found voices through their leadership to their colleagues in Sacramento who ultimately came together and voted for fairness for farmworkers and domestic workers.
This week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed both bills, giving these workers the fairness they deserve.
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