Dairy workers will all quit if given overtime

The Bee editorial on farm worker overtime was uninformed. The question you should ask workers is, can they afford to lose 20 hours a week in pay? Dairies fall under this rule, and they are not seasonal. I work with thousands of dairy workers and we have had a near revolt any time an employer mentions changing to three eight-hour shifts. They all threaten to quit.

If an employee loses $12,000 in income annually, he or she will get a second job. This means employees will get no days off a week and are at more risk of injury. You are not helping them.

Adding several employees to the dairy to meet these new standards also makes them open to other laws that are based on the number of employees (such as the new minimum-wage law). If you really think that adding $100,000 more on the backs of employers, plus the potential for more litigation is only going to cost “pennies,” you have a very bad calculator.

I would recommend that The Bee and the assemblyman, do a better job of talking to employees before making bad changes to the law.

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Dairy workers will all quit if given overtime."