FARMWORKERS ARE CRITICAL TO OREGON’S ECONOMIC WELLBEING

Oregon farmworkers ensure our families are healthy and well-fed in every corner of the state. Their hard work supports our entire economy. They deserve to be paid for every hour of their essential, difficult, and often dangerous work. And yet, in 2020, while working through wildfires and ice storms, Oregon farmworkers made, on average, less than $20,000 a year.

FARM OWNERS & EMPLOYERS WILL SOON FACE A STAFFING CRISIS

Washington and California already have farmworker overtime laws on the books. If we don’t begin to pay Oregon’s skilled farmworkers what they deserve, they will take their abilities to where they are better compensated, leaving Oregon farms and family dinner tables behind. To remain competitive, Oregon farm owners and employers must pay overtime. This bill helps support those farmers, making the transition as easy and clear as possible.

A HISTORY OF RACISM & EXCLUSION

The 1938 Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) failed to guarantee overtime pay for farmworkers despite working in one of the most dangerous job industries. The exclusion of farmworkers from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is part of a shameful legacy of institutional racism that initially targeted the 85% of southern African Americans who were farmworkers in the 1930s.

Today, most farmworkers are Latinos and Indigenous. Excluding farm workers from overtime was wrong in 1938 and it’s still wrong today. Oregon lawmakers have the opportunity end this racist exclusion and extend overtime pay for our essential farmworkers.