To: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Donald Trump
Remove (un)Fair Labor Standards Act Wage Exemptions
Remove the agriculture exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is a racially motivated exemption that suppresses the federal minimum wage.
Why is this important?
Since 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act has exempted agriculture workers from being paid minimum wage or even earning overtime wages. These exemptions keep the federal minimum wage suppressed so that Big Agriculture can pay migrant workers as low as $4.25/hr. Our federal representatives use it to reward corporations with cheap labor. It is the anchor that is holding the federal minimum wage so low. States have to raise the minimum wage individually because Big Agriculture lobbyist and the Supreme Court protect this valuable federal exemption. It is the source of our low wages. It is a hold-out from compromises needed to pass FDR's New Deal and is still hurting us all today.
https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1017&context=law_pubs
Remove the agriculture exemption and make the Fair Labor Standards Act fair for all!