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May 16, 2009
Editorial
Harvest Kennedy's legacy: State Senate must pass farmworker rights bill
Her presence in
Albany, where the Legislature
appears to be inching toward a historic breakthrough, is most welcome.
Because this is the year when fieldhands must, at last, gain the labor
protections afforded to virtually all other workers in
New York.
Led by
Speaker Sheldon Silver, the
Assembly is again poised to pass a bill to do just that.
Gov. Paterson says he stands
ready to sign it. The final piece of the puzzle is the state Senate,
where the legislation has languished.
Its shift from Republican to Democratic control has brought hope. The
obligation to lift hope into reality is
Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's.
It has been an enduring shame that, unlike almost everyone else who
earns a paycheck here, New York farmworkers are not guaranteed a day off
per week or overtime pay. They are denied the right to organize.
This page has long called for reform. Last November, we opined that
passage of a farmworker bill would be a greater tribute to RFK than
renaming the
Triborough Bridge in his
honor.
We recalled that he fought for "the downtrodden, including migrant
farmworkers who lived in miserable conditions on substandard wages," and
that he "championed the fieldhands and their families in an alliance
with legendary labor leader
César Chávez."
Kerry Kennedy answered the call with an appearance at the Capitol, where
she quoted from a speech of her father's: "When your children and
grandchildren take their place in
America, when you look at
them, you will say, 'I did this. I was there at the point of difficulty
and danger.' And though you may be old and bent from many years of
labor, no man will stand taller than you when you say, 'I marched with
Cesar.'"
The farmworker bill has 28 Senate co-sponsors, from both parties,
upstate and down. An additional 17 senators have pledged their support
or backed the legislation in the past. That adds up to 45 votes in a
chamber of 62 members. Passage appears guaranteed, provided Smith puts
the bill on the floor without weakening it.
He and his colleagues would do well to be guided by Kerry Kennedy's
words in remembering her father:
"Nothing will bring you more pride and honor in your life. This will be
a real way to honor him and to honor his memory."
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