New farmworker minimum-wage hike threatens to hit California shoppers

Many California farmworkers will see a wage increase next year under a recently signed state law — but farmers are warning that Californians could be paying more for their food as a result.

The new minimum-wage law will boost pay for farmworkers to $19.75 an hour under the federal H-2A guest worker program, in which foreign workers are brought in for temporary or seasonal jobs. It also applies to domestic farmworkers doing similar jobs.

That’s up from the current $16.90-an-hour minimum wage for such employees.

Lawmakers passed the law because they said they’re trying to help some of the state’s lowest-paid laborers. They noted many are already paid above the minimum wage.

“This is a bottom-line wage that’ll help our farmworkers who bring so much to California,” bill author Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D) said this year. “The truth of the matter is that those who are doing the hard work, waking up before dawn, and working on those farms are barely getting by, and some are not getting by at all.”

But longtime Fresno County farmer Joe Del Bosque, who employs about 150 seasonal workers during the summer, told ABC 30 recently there could be unintended consequences from the law.

Farms, he said, are already dealing with the rising costs of fuel, fertilizer and other goods. Increased labor costs will add another blow.

The bill “couldn’t have come at a worse time,” he said.

Del Bosque said the consumer will ultimately pay for the higher labor costs as they’re passed along the supply chain.

“People are complaining about affordability. They’re complaining about the cost of food. They’re complaining about job loss and businesses moving out of the state, and then they come up with this bill that is no doubt going to increase the cost to farmers and eventually to consumers,” he said.

Multiple farmers’ associations who had opposed the bill agreed.

“Imposing an additional sector-specific wage mandate will make it even harder for these businesses to remain competitive with producers in other states and countries, maintain production, and preserve jobs in rural communities,” the Western Growers Association and others said in a letter to lawmakers.

Del Bosque warned that farmers may have to reduce the number of jobs or working hours, ultimately also hurting the farmworkers themselves.

The base hourly wage of $19.75 will not stay that way; under the law, there will be annual adjustments to account for inflation and cost-of-living increases.

The Western Growers Association said in an Oct. 2 post that it was considering legal action against the law.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters