Action Alert: Farmworkers

** ACTION ALERT **

BILL PROVIDING FARMWORKERS THE RIGHT TO OVERTIME AND A WEEKLY DAY OF REST

CALL TODAY AND ALL WEEK, JUNE 16-20, 2008!
518/ 455-2800

Explanation:
The Justice for Farmworkers Campaign is on the brink of a major step toward the equal treatment of all New York workers. We really need your help to make it happen. Click here to read more about the campaign.

Seventy years ago, our elected representatives had the good wisdom to enact overtime protections that required work hours numbering greater than forty in a week to be compensated at one and one-half times the regular rate. Because southern legislators would not stand for putting African American workers on an equal footing with their white counterparts, however, farmworkers and domestic workers were excluded from overtime coverage. Since the New Deal, New York has perpetuated their exclusion from protections such as a day of rest per week.

We are urging the NYS Senate pass into law day of rest and overtime protections for farmworkers, as a step toward ending this shameful legacy of exclusion. Over many years, New York workers have come to expect a day of rest per week and overtime pay for hours worked beyond the forty-hour work week. With the passage of this bill, they will be able to approach farm work with that same expectation.

Our message is simple - We want our legislators to support a bill that ensures a day of rest and overtime protections for farmworkers.

Please Call Today! 518-455-2800

When you get the operator just ask for your Senator’s office. Ask for the Senator, but if he or she is not available ask for a staff person who handles legislation.

Sample Script:

Hello, my name is [NAME] and I am calling from [YOUR CITY/AFFILIATION]

I wanted to call to ask you to support a bill that would provide day of rest and overtime protections to farmworkers. We must end these two shameful exclusions, which are rooted in racism and that deny basic rights to farmworkers. I understand there is an assembly bill number A11425-a, and I would like [SENATOR] to support a matching bill in the Senate.

Thank you for your time.