On May 2, 2001, after decades of struggle, the Assembly of New York State passed the Farm Workers Fair Practices Act, which grants farmworkers the same rights afforded virtually all other workers in the state. Since the 1930's, a series of laws protecting workers' rights but
farmworkers were excluded from all of them. These include the right to organize, to a day off every week, to overtime pay, to disability insurance, to vacation and sick days, making them the most marginal and exploited workers in New York state. "It is like working conditions in the 19th century," says Laurie Konwinski, an Ithacan who went to Albany on May 1st for Farmworkers Advocacy Day to translate for Haitian farmworkers.

How can these exclusions to labor laws possibly exist at the beginning of the 21st century? The power of the agricultural lobby in New York State, representing 30,000 farmers, is the answer. For years, the Farm Bureau and other agribusiness lobbying groups has effectively pressured both Democrats and Republicans to prevent passage of laws increasing the protections and of the 47,000 farmworkers who work in New York every year. Such was the climate that the recent passage of laws insisting that toilets and drinking water be supplied workers in the fields was heralded as a major victory.

Whereas in the past many of these workers were African-Americans from the South, the fact that poor Mexicans would work for even lower wages has meant that they are increasingly Latinos. Many are in the U.S. illegally and send a significant portion of their earnings home to rural families.

The Advocacy Day, which has been underway every year for eight years, is organized by a coalition of agencies that work with farmworkers throughout the state and by farmworkers themselves. Groups of farmworkers, religious leaders and translators visited Senators and Assembly representatives' offices to educate lawmakers about the plight of farmworkers. With increasing pressure from the grassroots and the agencies that serve them, increasing visibility to the issue due to increased media exposure, particularly in New York City's Daily News, the state's AFL-CIO joined the campaign as did major religious groups.

But the battle is far from over. The bill which passed in the Assembly still has to make its way through the Senate, controlled by Republicans, and it is likely that it will be watered down on the way and signed by the governor. Please contact your Senator to let him or her know how
important it is to support basic rights for all people working in New York State.

For more local information about New York state farmworkers contact: Herb Engman Cornell Migrant Program 255-2536 hje1@cornell.edu