Farm Labor (S.6578/A.8419) | 2019
March 18th, 2019
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to granting collective bargaining rights to farm laborer
S.6578 (Ramos) A.8419 (Nolan)
MEMORANDUM IN OPPOSITION
Unshackle Upstate, a non-partisan, pro-taxpayer, pro-economic growth, education and advocacy coalition made up of business and trade organizations from all parts of Upstate New York, opposes this legislation. This bill would establish unnecessary, bureaucratic and costly new requirements for farm employees. The legislation purports to aid New York farm workers, but in reality, will actually adversely affect the majority of farm workers in this state. If this measure is enacted into law, on top of an already burdensome minimum wage increase, it will significantly drive up the labor costs and operating expenses of the state’s farms, and may ultimately force many of them out of business.
New York’s farmers have the second highest labor costs in the nation – behind only California, according to national agricultural statistical data. This shows that New York’s farmers treat and compensates their workers fairly and well. It also shows that New York’s farmers, who already face some of the highest property taxes and energy costs in the nation, are also at a significant competitive disadvantage to farmers in other states. New York farmers cannot afford additional state-imposed mandates that would further disadvantage them, because food production is now a global marketplace rather than a local one. The import share of U.S. consumed food has recently climbed from 8% to more than 11%. Mexico is now the source of 27 percent of U.S. fruit imports and 38 percent of vegetable imports. It is no surprise that the import share of U.S. consumed food has largely been of food which is not often mechanically harvested.
New York farms are 99% family-owned. These mom and pop businesses provide the connecting links between Upstate cities and rural communities. Farming is an economic multiplier business; the average farm dollar turns around between 4 to 6 times in the local economy, feeding other local families through employment on the farm, purchases of equipment and services like blacksmithing and custom harvesting. Without these family businesses, there will be even less economic opportunity in the state’s rural communities.
In conclusion, the enactment of this bill would inappropriately impose unsustainable wage mandates on private farms and makes the false assumption that these mandates will have no impact on our New York farms. These wage mandates will likely result in fewer jobs for farm workers as more of our food will be produced in other states and other countries. Our state government should not be in the business of adversely impacting the job market because of misguided impressions of farming and farm worker needs.
For these reasons, Unshackle Upstate opposes the enactment of this legislation.