among goals of 13-day farm worker’s pilgrimage
MADERA, CA — A Madera park will be the starting point for a 167-mile pilgrimage by Sacramento-bound farm workers seeking better salaries, enhanced working conditions and the right to overtime pay.
“The Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Now” march will begin at 9 a.m. August 23, 2011 at Courthouse Park at Gateway Drive and Yosemite Avenue. It will then proceed up the Central Valley, with stops in Merced, Turlock, Modesto, Manteca, Stockton, Galt and other places. By the time the march culminates at the State Capitol on Sept. 4, during Labor Day Weekend, thousands of farm laborers and their supporters are expected to be part of it.
The pilgrims want Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act next time it reaches his desk. On June 28, the governor vetoed SB 104, the act’s legislative title, which would have made it easier for farm workers to join unions, the first step to higher wages and improved working conditions.
A modified SB 104 will soon be reintroduced in the Legislature. The main difference: The bill will contain a “sunset” provision, meaning its mandates would expire on January 1, 2015, when Gov. Brown’s current term ends.
A companion bill will soon be before the Legislature, calling for overtime regulations to be extended to farm workers.
While most employees receive overtime pay for toiling more than eight hours a day, farm workers have been excluded from overtime-pay rules since 1938, when Congress passed the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Congress had been heavily lobbied by agribusiness interests, who opposed OT pay for farm laborers. Domestic workers also are excluded from receiving overtime.
The pilgrimage will begin with a short program, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Courthouse Park. On average, the pilgrims will march 12.8 miles a day.
The pilgrimage is sponsored by the United Farm Workers.