Position Paper | Exclusions | Pride of NY Restaurant Endorsers | Updates

The 2010 legislative session has brought hope and betrayal. On Jan. 20 the Senate Labor committee voted overwhelmingly to move the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to the Senate floor. The next day Senate leaders killed it by re-routing it to the Agriculture Committee. But the campaign is not dead. Follow our work in the Updates section with links to both the 2009 Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act (A.1867/ S.2247) and the bill as amended in Jan. 2010 (S.2247b). There are also links to more than a dozen editorials and opinion pieces calling for farmworker rights.

Join us in the struggle for equal rights. Visit the new site for the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign. In addition to campaign updates, check our TAKE ACTION section if you are able to spend a few minutes today reaching out to your NY state senator.

Since the 1930s New York’s farmworkers have been excluded from the same rights and protections that most other workers take for granted, including a day of rest per week, overtime pay, disability insurance, and the right to bargain collectively with their employers. The Justice for Farmworkers Campaign brings together a remarkable coalition of faith communities, students and labor to stand with farmworkers in an effort to gain equality under New York State labor law.

Only recently have farmworkers been granted the right to clean drinking water in the fields, sanitation facilities, and the right to the same minimum wage as other workers, but the exclusions still remain. The bill currently in the NY State Legislature would remove these exclusions and grant farmworkers the dignity and equality they deserve. A New York Times editorial agrees: "Farm Workers' Rights, 70 Years Overdue" (April 6, 2009).

Last Updated:03/08/2010
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