Posted on 09/02/2016 10:59:55 AM PDT by Nachum
The California State Assembly recently passed a bill that received minimal recognition by the press, outside of the state, but has substantial negative consequences for basically everyone in the country. Once signed by Jerry Brown, the bill, known as AB 1066, will make California the only state in the entire country to provide overtime wages to ag workers after 8 hours a day or 40 hours per week. This change will add about $1BN annually to the cost of growing food in California which will ultimately be passed along to consumers. And since eating isn't really optional, this is effectively a $1BN tax that California has decided to levy on the entire country. Worse yet, increasing food prices is essentially the most regressive form of "tax" possible given the disproportionate share of wages spent on food by low-income families. And, while you may not know it, California is an agricultural powerhouse that produces roughly 1/3 of all vegetables consumed in this country and 2/3s of the fruits and nuts.
Now, we know what you're thinking...why would everyone be entitled to overtime pay at 40 hours per week except farm workers? Well, there is logic behind the exclusion and it has to do with the seasonality of farming. Unlike most industries, farmers are not able to spread their labor needs throughout the year due to harvest schedules and the perishable nature of their crops. But farm workers aren't the only ones excluded from overtime pay. In fact, California has established special overtime rules for hourly workers in a number of other highly-seasonal sectors, including firefighters, actors and ski-resort employees, to name a few.
As you can see from the chart below, the total number of people working in the ag industry in California spikes by about 33% starting in May every
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Maybe they can replace farmworkers with robots.
Or,
Pay these workers in “Company Script” and set-up Company Stores where they can spend it.
I’m not kidding.
At a bare minimum we need to restrict or tax any efforts to send that money out of the country.
Depends what you eat. I am not severely affected by CA’s liberal insanity and idiocy.
1066 is a bad number for Anglo-Saxons.
Every crop that is grown in California is also grown in Mexico.
All of that can be replaced by foreign sources.
China alone can replace the walnut production, along with apples from washington state, and cherries from michigan.
Almonds, olives, and nuts can come from the middle east.
Greens, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and potatoes are abundant in central-south america.
The point is, food processing and sales industries are a global business. The number of US based and owned growers, producers, and processors are dramatically shrinking.
It wasn’t just those nasty manufacturing jobs that went overseas.
While I am not a big fan of most labor laws, largely preferring free contracting between employees and employers, I am surprised that ag workers were expected, up until now, to work OT without getting OT rates. That’s rather crappy, why did the law not apply to them?
An extra billion for Mexico.
Here comes famine.
Overtime of any kind is a union big government invention which until now politicians knew better than to mess with in connection to farming.
I give up . . . farming is so basic . . . don't mess with our food supply . . . they want to starve us.
FL can ramp up production for all of the items except nuts.
Speaking of nuts, CA is the cereal state. Home of fruits, nuts and flakes.
FReepers not included.
5.56mm
Manufacturing requires raw product which is kept on schedule, and the schedule is defined and definite.
Agricultural crops are ripe and optimum and need to be harvested, right at that time!
There are too many variables affecting agriculture crops: sunlight, rain, cold , heat, frost, fertilizer, irrigation,insect invasions, mechanical breakdowns, crop failures,
seed germination rates, flooding, insufficient ground water, fertilizer salts build up, timely transportation to market, etc., etc.
It is said that farmers is the oldest occupation , and they are all gamblers, as the odds and nature are against them.
The harvest occurs when the crop is ready and optimum, and no one gets paid until the crop is sold above the farmers cost; that is why there are so many small farm bankruptcies !
I understand .... , just make “attempts” to avoid where possible.
Yes. Let’s give the 7th economy of the world back to Mexico. Are you crazy??
Most of these legislators believe that milk comes mysteriously, directly from the bottle
They know nothing about : three milkings a day, the cost of feed, pasturization supplies, holding tanks, mechanical breakdowns, hauling manure,
diary co-ops, sanitary maintenance, crop rotation, veterinary visits, state inspections, etc.
With Milk : you can buy the milk in a bottle, but the farmer marries the cow !(labor intensive for the consumers convenience)
If workers in other industries get OT after 8 hours, why shouldn’t ag workers? Seems kind of arbitrary.
= = =
And the ag workers should get umemployment in the off-season, too?
Pretty impressive given the competition from places Washington, New York, Massachusetts, D.C.
California has never done anything good for me but they have done me wrong plenty. Mexico can have them afaic and the American political process can do without their electoral votes.
What would they do?
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