Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/298602
C alifornia farmers are now required to provide paid rest breaks for their workers. So, what's the best way to pay them? Previously, when employees were paid by piece-rate, rather than an hourly wage, the employees paid for any breaks they took, as they earned nothing while not working. This is why hourly paid workers had no trouble stretching their break time while some piece-rate workers used to skip theirs, points out Gregorio Billikopf, labor management farm advi- sor with the University of California, Davis. According to California Farm Bureau labor law specialist Carl Borden, employ- ers in California must pay workers, in addition to their piece-rate earnings, at least minimum wage for all non- productive work time. Nonproductive time includes heat illness prevention cooldown breaks, time spent donning safety clothing or equipment, travel time between fields, company-controlled waiting time, and company meetings for safety training or job training. Billikopf believes it's in the employer's interest to pay for rest breaks. Besides earning employee good will, the cost will be more than made up for by increased productivity and less workplace illness and injury, he said. The question is how to pay them. One option Billikopf suggests is to keep track of nonproductive time, including breaks, and pay at least the minimum wage. For example, if employees earn two ten-minute breaks a day, they would be paid for an additional a third of an hour. "To take full advantage of the breaks, make sure that employees take them and are not just paid for them," Billikopf urges. Another option for piece-rate employees is to pay them for breaks based on what they would have earned if they'd kept on working. This means that highly productive employees earn more for their rest peri- ods than slow ones (although all must earn at least the equivalent of the minimum wage). Research Billikopf has conducted shows that many workers are wary of showing employers what they can really do under piece rate for fear that the rate will be reduced if they earn too much. The approach of pay- ing a piece-rate equivalent for rest periods helps employers drive the message that increased productivity is a win for both employees and management. However, it would not be sustainable for other types of nonproductive time or if rest periods were longer. "I feel that paying for a short break through either option one or two may well help farm employers attract and retain good workers and moti- vate employers," says Billikopf, who prefers option two for short breaks. "The advantages are rewarding particularly fast and effective employ- ees and overcoming historical worker perceptions about piece-rate pay," he said. "For heat-illness prevention cooldown breaks, for longer breaks, and for other types of nonproductive time compensation, I prefer option one—adding a separate wage to the piece-rate pay earnings." • 22 MAY 1, 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Labor MICHIGAN GROWERS worry about labor I f nothing gets done to solve immigration issues this year, and, with it, assure a supply of domestic seasonal workers for agriculture, farmers will have to find ways to adjust. Dawn Drake, manager of the Michigan Processing Apple Growers, said that Michigan Farm Bureau and its affiliate, the Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Mar- keting Association (of which the Processing Apple Growers are a division), have formed a committee to "research a possible labor program in 2015." In the past, MACMA has had programs to help growers procure labor. The goal would be to create a program to obtain seasonal workers for Michigan growers. By far, the best scenario for farm labor reform both for consumers and farmers is one that includes, along with immigration enforcement, a redesigned guest-worker program and the opportunity for skilled laborers currently working in agriculture to earn an adjustment of their status. If that doesn't happen, farmers will have to adjust. "Regarding the labor program, we are in very early discussion stages of putting together something that would work for growers beginning in 2015," Drake said. "As we move forward with something over the next few months, I would be happy to keep you posted." Labor is a looming problem, she said, as most regions look like they have good crop potential for 2014. Last fall, growers had to leave some apples in their orchards, and the Michigan crop size is getting larger year by year. Congressman Fred Upton, who represents southwest Michigan's fruit belt, told growers at the Michigan Processing Apple Growers annual meeting in March that he was "hopeful." "We should be able to get a bipartisan bill through," he said. While critics say Congress is a place where nothing can get done, the last few months have shown encouraging signs of bipartisan effort. "It shows we can work together," he said, citing passage of the Farm Bill and agreement on a national budget. "We're not going to send 11 million undocumented people back home," he said of immigration reform. "They need to be able to stay here, raise their families, pay their taxes. We can't be breaking up families and deporting children. We're a better nation than that." The Senate bill won't pass, he said, but the House is working on bills that he thinks can gain support of 140 Republicans and 100 Democrats, and pass. He urged growers to keep up the pressure. "I'm pushing our leadership," he said. "We're going to need you to try to get this bill moving. We need you to get behind us. I'm on your side, I really am." Upton is popular in his district and has a reputation of responding to fruit and vegetable growers' concerns. —R. Lehnert PAYING for REST TIME Paying a piece-rate equivalent for rest breaks helps keep workers productive and motivated, a labor specialist says. by Geraldine Warner PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AURORA E. LEE