Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and North Country Assemblyman Mark Walczyk blasted the New York Farm Laborers Wage Board decision to move forward with their recommendation to lower the overtime threshold from 60 hours to 40 hours.

Sefeanik released the following statement.

“Kathy Hochul’s Farm Laborers Wage Board failed to support our hardworking farmers. Instead, these Democrats in Albany are doubling down on their reckless overtime decision, jeopardizing New York’s agriculture industry, putting thousands of farm laborers out of work, and making New York less competitive by forcing our workers to seek labor opportunities in neighboring states, all while in the midst of a labor shortage. They are unmistakably out-of-touch with Upstate New York and the North Country. Make no mistake, I will continue to challenge this wrongful decision and stand up for our farms because Upstate New York understands: No farms, no food.”

Stefanik has opposed the Farm Laborers Wage Board Decision and previously sent a letter to the Wage Board to postpone any consideration of reducing the overtime threshold for farmworkers. In February, Stefanik led the charge and called on Governor Kathy Hochul urging her to reject the New York State Farm Laborers Wage Board’s decision to lower the overtime wage threshold.

North Country Assemblyman Mark Walczyk was also critical of the decision.

“The board’s decision to recommend a 40-hour workweek to the state Department of Labor is another example of how short-sighted and out-of-touch Albany is with the realities of this state, and moreover the working people it claims to be working for. Simply put, this recommendation will put more farms into bankruptcy and foreclosure, and put farm workers out of jobs. If Albany wants to tell the rest of the world that New York is closed for business, they are certainly doing a great job at that — however, with the landscape and security of our food chain at stake, this issue is more than jobs and economics. It’s literally the food we all put on our tables. Albany, it’s time to wake up to the realities here and stop playing politics with people’s food.”