SENATE BILL: The Labor Rights Act (Law'd)

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'll let Snowstalker give his schpeel before I outline some of the tweaks I'd like to see. I'm not against the overarching spirit of this bill though.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'll start slowly with some of the easier stuff and we'll see how it goes...

An Amendment:

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Unionizing family farms is a bit much to me. The Farm Service Agency defines family farms as being owned and operated by families who sometimes hire seasonal workers. They may have a "reasonable" amount of full-time help. Does this bill give a farmer's children the right to unionize against him? When we're talking about small operations like these (operations that aren't making huge corporate profits), I think we've got to have some sympathy for the farm-owners. Unionization could destroy family farms. If you get national farm unions fighting for higher wages across the board, maybe it'll only be the factory farms that can afford these wage hikes. This bill opens a lot of doors.

Also, giving government workers this opportunity could put huge strains on regional budgets. How do you go about cutting the government workforce when you've got a bunch of unions to worry about?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Does this bill give a farmer's children the right to unionize against him? When we're talking about small operations like these (operations that aren't making huge corporate profits), I think we've got to have some sympathy for the farm-owners. Unionization could destroy family farms. If you get national farm unions fighting for higher wages across the board, maybe it'll only be the factory farms that can afford these wage hikes.

Why shouldn't a farmer's children be allowed to organize? We're not just talking about kids here; we're talking about adults, too. And believe me, conditions on some of these farms can be pretty rough - especially for the migrant workers who are now a fixture on even the smallest of farms. The traditional family farm is virtually nonexistent; almost all of today's "family farms" are multi-million dollar operations with thousands of livestock, hundreds of acres, and at least a few dozen workers. Attempts to preserve a "way of life" too often gloss over the fact that these farms, exempt from many regulations and on the receiving end of plenty of subsidies, treat workers, the environment, and consumers poorly.

Anyway, if factory farms are the only farms that can afford to pay their workers a decent wage and provide safe, healthy working conditions, then I'm not particularly concerned about the demise of their smaller competition.

If the competition is over-inflated because of a union, I am concerned. I get that there a big factory farms where workers could benefit from the right to unionize, but to ignore that small farms would be hit is, IMO, problematic. Maybe we add revenue guidelines to differentiate farms instead of using the "family farm" label?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Because you can't have workers without the enterprise that employs them.

Imagine you've got two farms in New York: a large factory farm and a smaller family farm. Workers at both farms are allowed to unionize, and suddenly, in mid-June, they decide "I want this, this, and this, and if you don't give it to me, I'll go on strike." Unfortunately, the employers know that those demands are unrealistic, so a strike ensues. It lasts from mid-June to early September. I expect most strikes would happen around this time, because unions would be aware that striking in the summer would give them the most amount of leverage.

What's important to realize, though, is that those farms didn't just lose two and a half months—they lost over two-thirds of the growing season (see here). That is a huge amount of lost revenue.

Farms are in a unique position when it comes to unions. The nature and timing of their operations mean that unions would have an over-inflated amount of undue influence. It's for this reason that I really don't favour giving agriculture workers the right to unionize on any type of farm... but I know that amendment would not pass here. I made the exemption for family farms because a lost growing season could completely wipe them off the map. Factory farms would have a better chance of surviving.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Aye

[HagridOfTheDeep]

So, if this amendment can't pass, what are the odds that eliminating Section 1 clause 4 will fly?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I know this probably won't pass, but I might as well try. Otherwise, there's not much that would make me want to support the bill.

An Amendment:

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[HagridOfTheDeep]

Aye

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Well, that went well.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nay

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I am disappointed with both versions, so I'll likely abstain for both.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Abstain