HSU: So Alan Schreiber found a workaround. SCHREIBER: The addition of overtime makes our already-high labor costs completely uncompetitive to Mexico and Peru. The margins are already thin, and he says he can't just raise his prices. But turn some of those hours into time and a half, and Schreiber says he will lose money. Skilled asparagus cutters can earn more than $30 an hour. HSU: And so it pays better than other work. You need seed, fertilizer, water, of course, but the biggest expense is labor. HSU: A handpicked crop like asparagus is costly to produce. Schreiber says already, he can't afford it. Next year it kicks in after 40, just like in other industries. ![]() This year time and a half kicks in after 48 hours a week. In 2021, Washington state passed a law extending overtime pay to farm workers with a multi-year phase-in. HSU: And it helped sustain them through the winter. SCHREIBER: That was their best money for the whole year. And with everything else workers need to do on the farm, like planting watermelon, people like Patricia Mendoza (ph) put in a lot of hours. ![]() HSU: That's how fast asparagus grows, which means during the April to June harvest, the rows have to be picked every day, sometime twice a day. SCHREIBER: In five hours, that'll be 50%, again, taller. HSU: The field is mostly cleared, but there are a few tender, green spears poking up from the soil. HSU: Our destination - an asparagus field, where the harvest has just wrapped up. HSU: Alan Schreiber, owner of Schreiber Farms, drives us past rows of cauliflower of all colors. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports.ĪNDREA HSU, BYLINE: At 7:30 in the morning, the sun is already shining bright over Washington State.ĪLAN SCHREIBER: Let's just hop in the truck. ![]() One effort to remedy that has had mixed results. A carve-out dating back to the Jim Crow era made them ineligible for overtime. But farm workers have not been in on that deal. Work more than 40 hours a week you start earning time and a half. Since the 1930s, hourly workers in the U.S.
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