MOFGA is celebrating the advancement of a farmworker justice bill many years in the making. June 10, Gov. Janet Mills signed into law An Act to Make Agricultural Workers and Other Related Workers Employees Under the Wage and Hour. This long-awaited law ensures that Maine farmworkers will receive the same hourly wage ($14.65) to which other Maine employees are entitled. This is the third time in recent years that the Maine Legislature has sent this bill to the Governor’s desk.
In addition to requiring agricultural employers to pay at least Maine’s minimum wage, the law: keeps pace with the cost of living in subsequent years; requires employers to keep a true and accurate record of hours worked and wages paid; and provides remedies for employees and penalties for employers for wage violations. It also gives Maine’s Department of Labor exclusive authority to bring an action for unpaid wages on behalf of an employee for unpaid minimum hourly wages, however it does not limit an existing right available to an employee under Maine labor law.
This is not a perfect bill but it is an important compromise, and MOFGA is happy that Maine is taking this step toward social justice and correcting an error on the law books. This is a bare bones policy to protect the people who carry out physically demanding tasks, for long hours in all kinds of weather to ensure that we have food on our tables. We thank Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross for sponsoring this legislation and Gov. Mills and her administrative leaders in the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry for the enormous dedication of time and effort to advance a compromise that works for all stakeholders.
A related bill, which MOFGA also supports, awaits Gov. Mills’ decision. LD 588 — An Act to Enact the Agricultural Employees Concerted Activity Protection Act, would ensure that farmworkers have the same right as other Maine employees to discuss working conditions and terms of employment with their coworkers and/or employers without fear of discipline or losing their jobs.
