Senators Dean Florez and Darrell Steinberg are high on their soapboxes this week, slamming Governor Schwarzenegger for not signing SB 1121, a bill that would have extended the state’s overtime labor laws to California farmworkers, who currently do not fall squarely under the standard system due to the seasonal nature of their work.
As Schwarzenegger spelled out in his veto message, Florez’s bill would have been bad for both businesses and farmworkers. Since other states do not have these wage requirements, the businesses here in California would just have made more crews work shorter shifts, which would have resulted in lower pay for everyone. And let’s also recognize that California, unlike other states, currently does provide for overtime benefits for farmworkers once they hit 10 hour days or 60 hour weeks.
According to Florez and Steinberg (or more likely the flacks who write their press releases), the Governor’s decision was an act of “sid[ing] with the shameful” or maintaining “discrimination.” Yet before these two finish crucifying Arnold, they should save a few nails for themselves.
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July 29th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Firefighting, retail sales and tax preparation are three fields of work that pop easily to mind that are extremely seasonal in their workflow. Do standard overtime rules not apply to those workers?
July 29th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Guess who else is exempt from California’s over-time laws? LEGISLATIVE STAFF! As a matter of law — a law written by Democrats — the people who work for Senator Florez and Senator Steinberg are not entitled to overtime pay, no matter how long they work. If overtime pay is such a great thing, someone should ask these hypocritical Democrats why they are so unwilling to pay it to their own staff members.
When people read in the newspaper that the Legislature passed a budget at 2 in the morning on a Saturday, I don’t think they realize that dozens (sometimes hundreds) of staff members were there working alongside the legislators, without any compensation after 5 p.m. on Friday. It is not unusual for Legislative staffers to work more than 60 hours per week when the Legislature is in session — or when campaigns are underway.
Of course, most of those overworked staff members enjoy their jobs and they are more than willing to work long hours. As a Legislative staff member for nearly a decade, I worked countless nights and weekends for a modest salary and no overtime pay, but I was very interested in the work and I have few regrets about doing my job. I did not need a bossy government bureaucrat to “protect me” by sending me home after 8 hours and I certainly do not believe that overtime pay is necessary to encourage good people to work for the Legislature.
The question for Senator Steinberg is: If his Senate employees are adults who can make their own decisions about their working conditions and hours, why shouldn’t farm workers be given the same treatment? Why does Senator Steinberg believe that we need to discriminate against farm workers and treat them like children?