SACRAMENTO – To mark the historic nature of legislation to provide farm workers with long-overdue overtime protections, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez and United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez will join farm workers from throughout California on Tuesday, July 20th at 10 a.m. to physically “march” the proposed law from the desk of the state Senate to the desk of Governor Schwarzenegger.

  For nearly 70 years, as a matter of custom and law, the state of California has discriminated against the farm worker. The men and women who work in the fields are the only hourly wage earners in the state who do not receive overtime pay after 8 hours of labor a day, 40 hours of labor a week.

  SB 1121, authored by Sen. Florez, seeks to end this archaic practice that treats one class, one people, different than all others. Earlier this month, the state legislature passed the measure. All that is needed for the bill to become law is the governor’s signature.

   

“Gov. Schwarzenegger has the power to forever wipe this shame off the books,” Sen. Florez said. “By doing so, he will send a clear message that it is not okay to treat a labor force of immigrants differently than the others, that he, as an immigrant who worked under the sun and became the embodiment of the California Dream, understands that such a disparity cannot exist side-by-side with our ideals.”

“My profound hope is that he will seize this historic moment and sign the bill into law,” Florez said.

Tuesday’s news conference and march to the Governor’s office will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the offices of Majority Leader Dean Florez, State Capitol Room 313.

 

SACRAMENTO – Actor Marin Sheen says “It is fair and just…” in his call for standard overtime pay for farm workers. Sheen adds his support to a measure by Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) that extends overtime pay provisions to farm workers who work more than eight hours in a day. This measure has passed out of the Legislature and is heading to the desk of Governor Schwarzenegger.

Sheen has been a longtime supporter of farm worker rights, marching with Cesar Chavez in 1965. In a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, Sheen writes, “This measure’s time has come at long last!” His letter of support joins that of editorial boards throughout California, including those of the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Sacramento Bee.

Farm workers are currently the only California employees who are exempt from receiving overtime when they work more than eight hours in a day, although they often labor 12 or more hours a day at harvest time. SB 1121 would simply remove that exemption and treat them as any other workers are treated.

Sheen will be available to answer questions via telephone.

Please email Janice Tsai ([email protected]) in the office of Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez to set up an appointment.