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Farm workers all over Washington state are saying the same thing to Olympia: “Just let us work!” Washington state is now the only state in the nation that doesn't allow farm workers to have seasonal flexibility in the hours they work, despite the fact that their jobs are deeply connected to Mother Nature's cycles of harvest followed by rest and rebirth.
Workers are telling us over and over that this is hurting their ability to make as much money as they want, forcing them to instead take second and third jobs to support their families. This is the unintended consequence of changes state government made to farm labor rules without listening to the very people that are impacted. Instead of making things better, they made life worse for Washington's farm workers. Farm workers deserve a solution to this crisis. Three Washington Supreme Court Justices demonstrate remarkable ignorance of key facts about farmworkers and reveal deeply offensive prejudice.A November 5, 2020 a ruling by five of the nine justices overturned a 61 year old state law that told farmers how to pay their employees. That opened the door wide to class action lawyers. Lawyers from as far away as Los Angeles jumped at the opportunity the court provided and now over 30 lawsuits have been filed against farmers. More are coming all the time. The lawyers are demanding three years back pay to employees. It doesn’t matter to them that farmers were following the law and did nothing wrong nor that farmworkers were well and fairly paid. Even worse, now Senator Saldaña is demanding that all farmers pay three years back pay--and with penalties. It is terribly unjust to change the law and then punish people for following the law because it was suddenly changed. If a speed limit changed, should you be fined for each time you violated the new limit in the past? This unfair demand would destroy farms and the thousands of jobs that depend on them. Does Senator Saldaña know the harm her actions would cause? Yes, because she heard from over 550 farmworkers, farmers and supporters who told her clearly in a senate hearing that their farms and jobs would be lost. (Watch the video here.) This problem is all based on the judges’ wrong opinions. These ideas appear to be shared by Senator Saldaña and lawmakers who support her. Three judges signed an opinion that shows how far their understanding of farmworkers is from reality. Their opinion demonstrates remarkable ignorance of the facts, but much worse, it shows a great disregard for the dignity and pride of these hard working and productive people. Read the detailed FACT CHECK, then download it and share it with all who care about farmworkers, their jobs and the farms where they work. To download without creating a SCRIBD account, click below:
In November 2020 the Washington Supreme Court made a momentous decision. They overturned longstanding state law that saw farm work as different from most other work with a need for flexibility in the hours workers could work. "Make hay when the sunshines" still is important for farming. The five out of nine judges who took this action apparently do not understand that farmers cannot raise prices to pass the increased labor costs on. To stay in business, farmers have had to make adjustments. As this video will show, employees the judges thought they were helping, are deeply unhappy with this decision. One very disturbing result of the state Supreme Court decision is the flood of litigation launched against Washington's family dairy farmers claiming that now these farmers owe three years back pay to their employees. This, despite the fact that farmers have been following the law on employee pay for years, and that if successful, these actions will mean the end of almost all but the very largest farms in Washington state. Eager lawyers jumped on the opening left by the Supreme Court decision and have filed suits against over 20 farms. They claim that farmers now owe workers three years back pay. When farmers have been faithfully following a longstanding state law in paying workers, how can it be fair they are now penalized for following the law? If these lawsuits succeed through court action or settlements, we will see a rapid loss of most of our family farms with only the largest, most efficient farms able to survive. Please read the detailed explanation, download it and pass it on. To download without creating a SCRIBD account, click below:
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