Richmond, Virginia—Advocates across the Commonwealth are celebrating the passage of HB20, sponsored by Delegate Adele McClure, legislation that removes the long-standing exemption allowing farm workers to be paid less than the minimum wage. With its passage by the House Labor and Commerce Subcommittee #2 on a vote of 5-2, it takes a critical step towards becoming law.
“For far too long, farm workers have been intentionally left out of basic labor protections, even as the minimum wage increased for others,” said Ashleigh Crocker, Interim Executive Director of Progress Virginia. “The passage of HB20 rights a historic wrong. Farm workers perform some of the most difficult, backbreaking work in the Commonwealth, yet they were excluded from minimum wage protections, which is rooted in Jim Crow–era discrimination. Today, the majority of farm workers are immigrants who work tirelessly to keep our communities fed, and they deserve to be paid fairly for their labor. We look forward to following it through the legislative process until it becomes law.”
The exemption from the minimum wage for farmworkers, which this bill repeals, targeted some of our community’s most vulnerable families. Farmworkers have historically suffered from poverty-level wages despite the fact that they perform some of the most difficult and dangerous work that exists. The farmworker exemption to the minimum wage dates back decades, when agricultural work was one of the only jobs available to Black workers and was deliberately excluded from wage protections.
Background:
- Farmworkers were excluded from the minimum wage when it was adopted in 1938. In 1938, most farmworkers were Black, and Southern states led the objection to extending the minimum wage to Black agricultural workers.
- In 1966, Congress extended the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25/hr) to farmworkers, but they are still excluded from federal overtime requirements, union protections, and OSHA protections/workers’ compensation laws in many states.
- Over 6,000 immigrant farm workers come to Virginia each year to harvest crops.
- Approximately 33% of farm worker families live in poverty.
- The average total individual income of farm workers ranges from $17,500 to $19,999 annually.