Rural Laws: April, 1998 - Number #11

Hourly Earnings. USDA's NASS reported that 800,000 hired workers were employed on US farms during the second week of January 1998. About one-sixth were brought to farms by intermediaries such as farm labor contractors.

About 80 percent of the 660,000 workers hired directly by farmers were year round, which means that employers expected to employ them for 150 or more days. All directly hired workers had average hourly earnings of $7.60, even though both field and livestock earnings averaged about $7 an hour.

The reason why all directly hired workers have average hourly earnings that are almost 10 percent higher than field and livestock workers is because about 20 percent of directly hired workers are supervisory and other workers, and their wages are much higher than those of field and livestock workers. For example, in April 1996, supervisors hourly earnings were $10.62 compared to $6.28 for field and livestock.

On March 1, 1998, California's minimum wage rose to $5.75 an hour; the federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since September 1, 1997. California's minimum wage was $4.25 an hour in September 1996, so that the minimum wage has increased by $1.50 an hour, or 35 percent in 15 months.

The California Industrial Welfare Commission voted to end daily overtime in 1997 and was defunded by the Legislature. On January 1, 1998, most nonfarm employers were no longer required to pay 1.5 times the normal wage after eight hours a day, or two times normal pay after 12 hours a day. The eight million California workers subject to the overtime repeal are still entitled to 1.5 times their usual wage after 40 hours of work per week under federal law.

The Wall Street Journal on March 4, 1998 reported that the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reduced its inspections of farm operations from almost 600 in 1994 to 300 in 1996, and fewer than 200 in 1997. The number of citations issued fell from 750 in 1994 to 460 in 1996, and 250 in 1997. About half of the inspections show that farms are in full compliance.

Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. has begun a private audit program to ensure that the growers who produce berries for Driscoll are in compliance with state labor laws.

Democrats attacked an Assembly bill, AB 2399, that would have required FLCs to pass a course to obtain or renew a license; Democrats wanted both the FLC and the grower to be jointly liable for FLC violations. Under current law, FLC pay $350 to obtain or renew a FLC license.

ALRB. The ALRB continued to discuss changes in its regulations, especially the 1975 access rule, which permits union organizers to have access for up to three hours a day for four-30 day periods a year to the farm workers on a farm. Many of the cases decided by the ALRB in 1997 involved employer charges that union organizers abused their access privileges.

Employers would like the ALRB to adopt regulations that parallel those of the NRLB. The NLRB presumes that union organizers can find off-work sites to discuss the benefits of unions with workers and grants work place access to union organizers only after the union petitions the NLRB and demonstrates that it has no other means of communicating with workers, as on a ship or in a logging camp.

Marc Lifscher, "California's Farms Face Pressure To Improve Sanitary Conditions," Wall Street Journal, March 4, 1998. Susan Duerksen, "Food safety a priority for border health plan," San Diego Union-Tribune, February 7, 1998.