CANANDAIGUA (New York) MESSENGER-POST

April 27, 2010

Farm labor bill defeated

By Julie Sherwood, staff writer

Messenger Post

Finger Lakes, N.Y. — The controversial Omnibus Farmworker Labor Bill opposed by state Farm Bureau has been defeated by the state Senate Agriculture Committee. State Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, who opposed the legislation, said today in a statement the bill “would have created the most repressive labor mandates in the entire country,” adding “devastating costs to New York’s more than 35,000 farms.” 

The legislation, Senate bill 2247, voted down in committee, would have extended benefits to farm workers such as collective bargaining rights and the right to strike, as well as regulate hourly pay rates and require farmers to pay unemployment insurance to seasonal and migrant workers.

Farmers across the region lobbied for defeat of the bill, including taking part in a rally in Albany in March. Supporters of the bill, who also rallied in Albany and locally, included organizations such as the New York Civil Liberties Union and Justice for Farmworkers Campaign  — a coalition of faith communities, students and labor seeking equal treatment for farm workers.