Schwarzenegger vetoes OT for farmworkers

[Kadie]

Schwarzenegger vetoes OT for farmworkers
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Wednesday, July 28, 2010


(07-28) 18:24 PDT Sacramento - --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill today that would have made California's hourly agricultural employees the only farmworkers in the nation to receive overtime after 40 hours a week or eight hours a day.

In vetoing the measure, Schwarzenegger cited the already-fragile economy, and said the extension of overtime protections could put farms out of business, or result in lower paychecks for agricultural workers because farmers would hire more people and cut hours to avoid paying overtime.

The bill's author, Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter (Kern County), blasted the veto. In a statement released by his office, Florez said the Republican governor sided "with a labor practice derived from the segregationist South," and that the veto means it is "acceptable to treat one class of people differently from all others.

"The governor had a chance to make history," said Florez, the son of farmworkers. "He had a chance to wipe a 70-year-old shame off the books of California. Instead, he has decided to side with the shameful."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/28/BAPJ1ELBTP.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0v28qOUEm

[damntexdem]

1. CA needs Brown in the guv's mansion.

It also needs more Dems in the Assembly.

And farmworkers need fair treatment.

[JDPriestly]

2. Farmers would hire more people and cut overtime.

So what's wrong with that? Why not give more people jobs?

This makes no sense.