By Rick Zimmerman, Executive Director
The Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance has been an active supporter of the Grow NY Farms Coalition, which launched a substantial campaign to impress upon the Farm Labor Wage Board the importance of keeping the 60-hour overtime threshold at 60 hours. On December 15th, the NYS DOL announced that the Wage Board will once again hold a series of hearings to receive testimony from interested parties. I encourage all NEAFA members that work with NYS farmers to demonstrate solidarity and sign up to make a statement in support of keeping 60 at 60. You can do so at the following link: https://dol.ny.gov/farm-laborers-wage-board-hearings
Two weeks ago, coalition leaders delivered hundreds of letters from farmers and farmworkers to Governor Kathy Hochul, asking her and the farm labor wage board to maintain the 60-hour overtime threshold. Last week, the Buffalo News printed the attached editorial recognizing the importance of keeping overtime at 60 hours. We must keep this momentum going by weighing in on the extreme importance of the continuance of the 60-hour overtime threshold.
Sign up here https://forms.ny.gov/s3/Farm-Laborers-Wage-Hearing for a three-minute time slot during one of three virtual hearings:
3:30 p.m., Tuesday, 1/4/2022
5:00 p.m., Tuesday, 1/18/2022
5:00 p.m., Thursday, 1/20/2022
Take three minutes to talk about how a dairy farm industry, no longer able to be economically competitive if this threshold is reduced, will cause a harmful ripple effect throughout upstate communities. Talk about how dependent your business is on a viable dairy farm community.
This is as serious a farm issue as it gets! We all have a stake in its outcome.