Abill is pending in the New York Senate that will ensure that farm workers are provided the rights, protections and benefits that all other workers throughout New York State receive. New York State and U. S. citizens benefit immensely from the farm workers’ hard work but we have to ensure that the farm workers receive just wages and good working conditions.

We have learned a lot about the treatment of farm workers through their history in California. When farm workers are given benefits, the consumer might pay a few pennies more for produce but farms do not close in large numbers, as some people have professed.

For decades farm workers in New York State have been excluded from many benefits that other workers receive. Farm workers often work 14 hours per day, seven days a week, at minimum wage, with no overtime or insurance and no day of rest. Documented and undocumented farm workers as well as the majority of immigrants pay taxes and FICA. All immigrants pay an average of $80,000 per lifetime totaling more than any government services they would receive.

In 2005, as was reported by The Buffalo News, farm labor contractors were sentenced in federal courts in Buffalo for forcing farm workers to live in one bedroom with as many as 11 people. These workers were threatened with violence if they tried to leave and were paid less than 13 cents per hour.

In that article, Assistant U. S. Attorney Gretchen Wylegala said, “The government believed that at least 41 other workers were previously mistreated.” District Judge William Skretny said the conduct of Maria Garcia, a farm labor contractor, and three of her family members was a “despicable” abuse of vulnerable people. The case was the first local prosecution under a federal law passed in 2000 to protect migrant workers from slave-like conditions.

The Garcias took a plea deal in December 2004 on the day their trial was supposed to begin. The reason that these abuses became evident was that six farm workers escaped and contacted Farm-workers Legal Services. The federal court in Buffalo found the farm labor contractors guilty and sentenced them to 46 months in prison.

From these convictions we can learn that when farm standards and farm-worker benefits are maintained, the abuses will subside. This can be attained by supporting this resolution. It is time for the New York State Senate to voice its support for the Farm-worker Fair Labor Practices Act and stop the abuse suffered by this vital part of New York State’s labor force.

Although farm workers sometimes are hesitant to voice their struggle for fear of retribution, it makes it all the more important that the citizens of New York and legislators support the need for economic justice for these farm workers as they struggle to make a living for their families.

Wayne Alt is a board member of Rural and Migrant Ministry of New York State.