No Subject

[Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com>]

Visionaries--This article concerning the minimum wage for farm workers will
appear in
the press tomorrow.

Rep. Tom Trail/Dist. 5
>>
>>BC-ID--Minimum Wage, Bjt,740
>>Governor endorses minimum wage for farm workers
>>mavar
>>By MARK WARBIS
>>Associated Press Writer
>>BOISE, Idaho — In a reversal of the position he took last December,
>>Gov. Dirk Kempthorne on Friday called on the Legislature to remove the
>>agriculture industry’s longtime exemption from Idaho’s $5.15 minimum
>>wage. “I strongly believe the time is right to move ahead on enacting
>>a minimum wage law provided that the legislation exempts piece work,”
>>Kempthorne wrote in a letter to the cochairmen of an interim
>>legislative committee on the issue. “This legislation would ensure
>>that everyone is paid the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour and would
>>still allow those who wish to enter into contracts based on piece work
>>to do so. Any legislation that does not allow for this exclusion would
>>hurt the farm worker and the farmer.” Kempthorne said Friday afternoon
>>that he believes a consensus is developing behind that position within
>>the agriculture community, and that it has become increasingly clear
>>that virtually all of Idaho’s 35,000 to 40,000 farm laborers — the
>>vast majority of whom are Hispanic — already make at least the minimum
>>wage. Promoting the change before it had a chance of legislative
>>acceptance based on that understanding would have been
>>counterproductive, he said. “We needed that time.” One of the interim
>>committee’s cochairmen, House Agriculture Chairman Doug Jones, said
>>the governor’s insistance on a piece-work exemption essentially
>>reflects the substance of a bill, patterned after an Oregon law, that
>>failed to win approval in his House committee last winter. Jones said
>>Kempthorne’s new public stance should help convince members of the
>>interim committee, which meets in Boise next Friday, and the
>>Legislature as a whole to finally support lifting the agriculture
>>exemption. “This letter from the governor certainly makes his position
>>clear and will provide certainly some direction for the committee on
>>what he wants to do,” the Filer farmer said. “It sends a clear signal
>>that it’s probably time to make the change. Our job will be to do that
>>in a way that doesn’t create harm to the agricultural community.” In
>>December 1999, Kempthorne said the dire financial straits Idaho
>>agriculture was in would make it futile to try pushing farmworker
>>minimum-wage legislation during the 2000 session. “With all of the
>>agriculture commodities still in the tank, it’s a difficult issue,” he
>>said. “You’ve got a lot of farmers working diligently just to keep
>>things together.” Jones said the economic conditions for Idaho farmers
>>and ranchers are no better now than they were then. “If anything
>>they’re probably worse. But I think the reality is that nobody’s
>>paying less than $5.15 anyhow,” he said. “There’s been a maturing of
>>the issue.” Humberto Fuentes, executive director of the Idaho Migrant
>>Council and an advisory member of the interim committee, called
>>Kempthorne’s letter “a pleasant surprise.” “I wasn’t expecting him to
>>endorse it. But now at least we’ll have a better chance of convincing
>>the rest of the legislators,” Fuentes said. “Let’s hope he’s as
>>aggressive as Gov. Phil Batt was with the worker’s compensation so we
>>can get this issue behind us.” Batt in 1996 finally cajoled lawmakers
>>to including farm workers under Idaho’s worker compensation law, but
>>only after calling in a number of political chits and breaking ranks
>>with some lifelong friends and allies. Fuentes said Kempthorne
>>apparently read the handwriting on the wall. “What really changed is
>>the support of the general community, not only farm workers but a lot
>>of organizations. A lot of religious groups and a lot of folks see
>>this is as a fairness issue,” he said. “If it would have been just a
>>few of us advocates arguing that it was unfair, I don’t think that it
>>would have made a difference.” Kempthorne, however, insisted he had
>>been supportive of the concept since the beginning of his
>>administration. He cited a meeting with members of the House during
>>the 1999 legislative session when he told lawmakers “this legislation
>>needed to happen. It was just a matter of timing. “Having been assured
>>by the agricultural community that nearly everyone is being paid more
>>than the minimum wage and that this change will not be an additional
>>burden or hardship on them, I believe it is time to put this issue to
>>rest.”
>>
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Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com