California mandates sick days for workers [Associated Press]
Gov.
Jerry Brown signed legislation Wednesday that will require most California
employers next year to provide up to three sick days for millions of workers, a
policy long-sought by labor unions and opposed by business groups….Supporters
said as many as 6.5 million workers — including temporary and part-time
employees — will benefit from the law that takes effect next July….The law will
require most employers to provide paid sick leave to employees who work 30 or
more days within a year, and workers will earn a minimum of one hour of paid
sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Field
laws: A recently passed bill tightens sexual harassment regulations for field
contract laborers [New Times San Luis Obispo]
In
August, state regulators passed a bill designed to address sexual harassment in
California’s agricultural fields—something the bill’s proponents say is far too
common. Sen. Bill Monning (D-Salinas), the bill’s author, said he was
inspired by a documentary produced by Frontline and the Center for
Investigative Reporting, Rape in the Fields….SB 1087 will require field labor
contractors to pay a little more in licensing fees; require supervisors and
workers to attend more sexual HARASSMENT TRAINING; and enforce a harsher
penalty if a contractor or any of its supervisors is found to have committed
sexual harassment against an employee. Gov. Jerry Brown has until Sept. 30 to
sign the bill into law or veto it. If he does nothing, the bill will become law
at that time. Richard Quandt with the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties agrees with Monning: Working in the fields
should be the same as working in any other industry, and therefore the
regulations should be the same. Still, Quandt said regulations on field labor
contractors are already tighter than any other industry, and this bill just
tacks on more.
EPA
sued — again — to force decision on pesticide [San Francisco Chronicle]
More
than four years ago, environmental groups asked a federal court to order the
Environmental Protection Agency to decide whether to ban a widely used
pesticide that scientists have linked to illnesses in children. They settled
the case in November 2011 after the EPA said it would make a decision within a
year. When that didn’t happen, they sued again. More promises, the groups said,
but no performance. On Wednesday, the same organizations filed a third lawsuit,
asking for a firm. court-ordered deadline….But chlorpyrifos is still used as an
insecticide on corn, grapes, oranges, almonds and other crops, on golf courses
and for PEST CONTROL IN urban areas — as much as 5 million pounds APPLIED in
the United States each year, one-fifth of that in California alone, according
to Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action
Network North America….The California Farm Bureau Federation, however, has
opposed a ban and said the EPA’s own studies have shown the pesticide can be
applied safely, though its use has declined in recent years.
California’s
water-starved farmers stymied by fish protections [Bloomberg News]
Environmental
protections for endangered salmon in California’s rivers and streams are
drawing complaints from drought-stricken farmers who say water that could be
pumped to them is allowed to empty into the ocean. Authorities have sharply
curtailed allocations in the largest U.S. agricultural producing state, with
2012 sales valued at $42.6 billion, forcing growers to leave farmland unplanted
or pay escalated prices for water from other sources. “The Endangered Species
Act does not have any consideration for human impact, and that’s a little
disturbing,” said Joe Del Bosque, 65, president of Del Bosque Farms in
Firebaugh, who grows melons and tomatoes….One of the worst droughts in
California’s history is intensifying a longstanding conflict between farmers,
environmentalists and fishermen over the Chinook salmon that spawn in the
Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems.
Valley
farm laborers finding work in other states [KFSN-TV Fresno]
Small,
outlying towns in Central California are losing farm laborers who are FINDING
WORK in other states….If you look out in the fields of Firebaugh, you'll find
they're not just missing water but the people that normally care for them.
"They're going to packing houses. They're going to Alaska to pack salmon,
they're going to Nebraska to work in pork processing facilities. They're going
to other places to find work because it's just not here," said Firebaugh
Mayor Pro Tem Craig Knight. And when the farm laborers pack and up and leave,
the students that fill the hallways at these schools go with them.
California
rice farmer: Drought may make us 'quit' [CNBC.com]
Nearly
25 percent of California's $5 billion rice crop will be lost this year due to
lack of water, say experts. And while analysts say the loss is not a crisis
just yet, at least one rice producer is ready to call it a day. "If we
keep going through this drought, it may make us quit and sell the ranch,"
said Sherry Polit, who grows organic rice with her family on 1,500 acres in the
Northern California town of Maxwell….With surface water sources drying up from
lack of rain, the problem for rice producers is having enough water available
to fill rice paddies, said Jim Morris, communications manager for the
California Rice Commission….To try and MAKE MONEY, some California rice
producers have turned to selling their water sources, rather than planting a
crop this year, said Bruce Linquist, an agricultural researcher at the
University of California, Davis.
Ag
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