Sen. Talbot Ross introduces legislation to guarantee basic labor protections for Maine farmworkers

AUGUSTA – On Wednesday, April 2, Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, presented two bills to the Joint Standing Committee on Labor that would extend long-overdue labor protections to Maine’s farmworkers. LD 588, “An Act to Enact the Agricultural Employees Concerted Activity Protection Act,” and LD 589, “An Act to Make Agricultural Workers and Other Related Workers Employees Under the Wage and Hour Laws,” were the subjects of public hearings on Tuesday.

“For too long, farmworkers in Maine have been excluded from labor protections that apply to nearly every other worker,” said Sen. Talbot Ross. “They can be fired for talking about workplace conditions. They are denied state minimum wage and overtime. These bills aim to right that historic wrong. These bills are about fairness, about human dignity and about making sure the people who feed us are protected, not silenced. Every person who works deserves the protection of the law — no exceptions.”

LD 588 would establish the right of agricultural workers to engage in concerted activity, such as speaking with co-workers about workplace conditions or raising concerns with their employers, without fear of retaliation. Under current law, farmworkers can be fired or evicted from employer-provided housing simply for exercising these rights.

LD 589 would ensure that agricultural workers are recognized as employees under Maine’s wage and hour laws, entitling them to the state minimum wage and phased-in overtime protections. Currently, most farmworkers in Maine are only guaranteed the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, with no state-mandated overtime protections.

During the public hearing, Sen. Talbot Ross emphasized that these bills are not meant to vilify agricultural employers or impose mandates for unionization but rather are efforts to ensure farmworkers are afforded the same basic dignity, voice and fairness that Maine law already provides to others in the workforce.

Both LD 588 and LD 589 await further action in the committee.

Sen. Talbot Ross represents part of her hometown of Portland and Peaks Island in the Maine Senate.

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