Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed AB 1066, the farmworker overtime bill, he announced Monday.
The bill impacts agricultural workers and their wages, hours, and work conditions. AB1066 passed in the Assembly late August and will allow farmworkers to begin receiving overtime.
The author of the legislation is Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego).
United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez issued the following statement:
"For 78 years, a Jim Crow-era law discriminated against farm workers by denying us the same overtime rights that other workers benefit from. Here in the U.S. Today, Governor Brown corrected a historic wrong and set an example for other states to follow.
Farm workers have sacrificed and lead this fight. We thank the author Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and legislators who stood up and to the countless activists and civic organizations whose work with the United Farm Workers was instrumental to making this groundbreaking legislation the law of the land in the largest agriculture state in the nation."
Paul Wagner, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, issued the following statement:
“We are extremely disappointed that this legislation was signed into law, as it will be harmful to farm employees, farmers, consumers and the environment. Those who work on California farms will see reduced paychecks and have their lives disrupted as these new worker overtime rules come into play. California consumers will have fewer opportunities to buy California-grown farm products that are produced under the most stringent food safety, employment and environmental rules in the world.
Legislation such as AB 1066 only works if California consumers buy California farm products and opt not to buy cheaper food products from sources outside of California that do not meet the same labor and environmental stewardship standards that our farm products do.
It is unfortunate that those who will suffer the economic consequences of this ill-conceived statute are not the ones that wrote it and passed it into law.”
RELATED: Overtime farm workers bill passes in Assembly on Monday
