Ag OT Issues Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. The new ag overtime law is in full effect this year, and the expense for producers has changed the way they have to do things … and not for the better.
State Senator Ron Muzzall says some legislators apparently aren’t concerned about what the workers themselves think, when they try to convince them it’s costing them a lot of money …
MUZZALL … “We had the group that came to the capitol and tried to get their point across. But I was there that day at the hearing, two years ago, when these, and they were Hispanic, came in and spoke to the committee. And after they had testified, one of the Senators said, well, thank you for coming in. You don’t understand.”
That, Muzzall says left him scratching his head …
MUZZALL … “Which really interpreted, to me, that that majority Senator did not understand what they were trying to tell them.”
Some legislators, Muzzall says have no interest in listening to the other side …
MUZZALL … “They’re dismissive. They believe that they’re correcting the wrongs of the world. They’ve never been out to the fields to talk to these people whom they’re affecting. Unintended consequences are the greatest risk we run with any legislation and that’s what we’ve done here.”
The 10th District Republican says agriculture is so important to this state and laws like these are pushing many farmers, in a very seasonal business, out.
