Washington, D.C. – Today, the Fairness for Farmworkers Act of 2023 (H.R.) was re-introduced by Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Senator Alex Padilla (D.-Calif). The legislation would end the Jim Crow-era exclusion of agricultural workers from the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which set federal overtime rules for most other industries.
“For 85 years, the exclusion of farm workers from overtime pay has been a lasting legal remnant of Jim Crow,” said UFW President Teresa Romero. “The Fairness for Farmworkers Act would finally end the racist exclusion of agricultural workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. We thank Senator Padilla and Congressman Grijalva for working to finally address this historic injustice. The men, women, and children who do the backbreaking work in the fields to put food on America’s table deserve access to the same wage and overtime standards as any other worker in America.”
“Eighty-five years after nearly all other U.S. workers won overtime pay, farm workers are still fighting for their right to be treated equally,” said UFW Foundation Chief Executive Officer Diana Tellefson Torres. “Farm workers deserve overtime pay and Congress must stop the exploitation of the very same people they called essential workers not too long ago. It’s time to end this discriminatory exclusion and finally extend farm workers the right to overtime pay.”
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