The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act was voted down by the New York State Senate earlier this month.
The bill’s defeat followed more than a decade of attempts by farmworker advocates to get the legislation up for a vote on the Senate floor, according to information from Ruth Putnam Marchetti, justice-and-peace coordinator for Catholic Charities in Livingston, Wayne and the Finger Lakes counties.
The bill would have provided the same protections as other workers receive including overtime pay and worker’s compensation benefits.