‘Embarrassing and shameful’: Advocates blast Mills’ veto of farmworker rights bill

“Continuing the current system of sub-minimum wages for farmworkers means that about one quarter of Maine’s agricultural workers will continue to live in poverty,” said Arthur Phillips, a policy analyst with the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “We know that Maine’s economy is strongest when everyone has the means to thrive. The people who produce our food deserve a job that pays them adequately and treats them with dignity.”

“As in the rest of the country, these workers in Maine are disproportionately Black, Latino, and Indigenous, and they are more than four times as likely to live in poverty as other workers,” Phillips added. “This veto means their second-class status will persist in Maine.”

Click here to read the full story, first published July 20, 2023 in Beacon.