Governor REJECTS Labor Protections For Farmers

Maine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills recently vetoed a bill that would give farm and agricultural workers basic protections and rights, like being covered under Maine’s minimum wage and overtime laws. Mills cited the “unintended consequences” of the bill as the reason for the veto. Ana Kasparian and Wosny Lambre discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE:
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/janet-mills-maine-democrats-rights-farm-workers-labor-legislation

“During the New Deal era, Congress passed two still well-known pieces of labor legislation: the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Both played a significant role in establishing basic labor protections and empowering ordinary workers — the former notably enshrining the right to join and participate in a union. Not everyone, however, was included. Carve outs for both domestic and farmworkers aided the continued exploitation of two sectors that have remained particularly vulnerable to this day. Blacks were particularly overrepresented within those two groups.

It was exactly this injustice that a recent bill in Maine’s state legislature hoped to address. Several types of agriculture are significant to the local economy, which yields a large output of eggs, potatoes, blueberries, and maple syrup, though people employed across the industry have lacked even basic rights for decades. In introducing the legislation, Democratic representative Thom Harnett noted that farmworkers aren’t even considered employees under state law:"

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