Gov. Janet Mills outside the Maine Democrats’ convention earlier in May | Photo via Maine Democrats on Twitter
Originally published in the Maine Beacon on July 20, 2023
Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have allowed farmworkers in Maine to gain protections under some of the state’s wage and overtime laws — a decision that a prominent labor leader called “embarrassing and shameful.”
The bill, LD 398, sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), would have made farm laborers in the state — many of whom are migrant workers — eligible to be covered under Maine’s minimum wage laws. In addition, the bill would have stipulated that farmworkers be protected from working more than 80 hours of overtime in any consecutive two-week period and allowed such workers to take a 30-minute unpaid break after six hours. The measure was amended multiple times to reduce the scope of the bill, likely with the goal of winning Mills support — an ultimately unsuccessful effort.
Wednesday’s veto marks the second time in the last year and a half that Mills has vetoed legislation to provide farmworkers with the same rights that other workers enjoy. In January of 2022, the Democratic governor made national headlines when she rejected a measure to allow farmworkers to unionize. (A bill introduced earlier this year to grant farmworkers full collective bargaining rights was carried over to the 2024 legislative session).
Advocates on Wednesday decried Mills’ latest decision to block labor rights for farmworkers.
“The governor’s veto sends a clear message to farmworkers that they are second class citizens, not worthy of the same rights and protections other workers enjoy,” said Cynthia Phinney, president of the Maine AFL-CIO. “This veto carries on the historical stain and stench of exploitation and racial exclusion. It’s embarrassing and shameful. Farmworkers are some of the hardest working people in our nation and they deserve fair and equal treatment.”
As Beacon previously reported, LD 398 sought to address a longstanding practice of farmworkers being left out of worker protections, as both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act, which passed in the 1930s as part of the New Deal, excluded farmworkers and domestic workers. The carveout was intentional, as Congress moved to specifically exempt groups of workers who were predominantly people of color from labor standards to keep them in an economically subservient position.
A growing number of states are moving to change that practice. Currently, 12 states guarantee collective bargaining rights to farmworkers. And in 2021, state legislatures with Democratic majorities in Washington and New York passed overtime rights for farmworkers. Colorado has gone the furthest, granting state minimum wage, overtime and organizing rights to agricultural laborers.
In her veto message of LD 398, Mills wrote that she was reluctantly rejecting the bill despite supporting a minimum wage for farmworkers in part because the changes made to it throughout the legislative process “led to a series of questions from members of the agricultural community about the true scope of the language,” with Mills claiming the measure could potentially create unintended consequences related to other parts of state and federal labor laws.
Mills also stated that she would have liked to have the legislature recall the bill from her desk to work on those issues but said that wasn’t possible because lawmakers weren’t in session this week and the measure had to be acted on by Wednesday. Mills added that in the coming weeks, she will issue an executive order to reestablish a stakeholder group to undergo an analysis of the bill’s provisions and implications. She said she believes a deal on including farmworkers in the state’s minimum wage laws can ultimately be reached and pledged to introduce such a bill during next year’s session if an agreement is struck.
However, Mills’ explanation didn’t add up for some, such as the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).
“It is impossible to accept this explanation of her action,” said Heather Spalding, MOFGA’s deputy director. “Governor Mills’ own staff from the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry participated in multiple stakeholder meetings where participants discussed the bill language and amendments at length and made concession after concession, mainly at the request of the governor herself. It is disingenuous for her to say that she supports minimum wage for farmworkers when she won’t even allow a stripped-down bill with many exemptions for agricultural employers to pass into law.”
In addition, as the Maine AFL-CIO pointed out in a press release on Wednesday, Mills’ veto means many farmworkers in Maine will continue to face some of the most dire economic conditions of any segment of the population. Farmworkers are among the lowest paid and most exploited workers in the state, with a 2020 study finding that U.S. farm employers stole $76 million in wages from 154,000 agriculture employees over two decades.
Along with that, despite many workers being paid extremely low wages, farm labor is among the most dangerous jobs in the country. Those who work in the industry are also at risk of sexual abuse and face danger related to extreme heat waves and toxic pesticides, the Maine AFL-CIO added.
Given those factors, other advocates also expressed frustration with Mills’ veto of LD 398.
“Continuing the current system of sub-minimum wages for farmworkers means that about one quarter of Maine’s agricultural workers will continue to live in poverty,” said Arthur Phillips, a policy analyst with the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “We know that Maine’s economy is strongest when everyone has the means to thrive. The people who produce our food deserve a job that pays them adequately and treats them with dignity.”
“As in the rest of the country, these workers in Maine are disproportionately Black, Latino, and Indigenous, and they are more than four times as likely to live in poverty as other workers,” Phillips added. “This veto means their second-class status will persist in Maine.”
LD 398 will now return to the House for a vote to see if the legislature can override the governor’s veto. But given the tight margin of the initial House vote and widespread opposition from Republicans, it appears unlikely that the override attempt will be successful.
Evan Popp studied journalism at Ithaca College and interned at the Progressive magazine, ThinkProgress and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He then worked for the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper before joining Beacon. Evan can be reached at evan@mainebeacon.com.
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