CALIFORNIA AG | OUR WORK HAS VALUE
$61.2 BILLION CA AG IINDUSTRY
CA is the world’s 4th
largest econony, driven
by agriculture.
CDFA | CA GOV
885,500 CA FARM WORKERS
Farmworkers in California
(averaged over 2018–2021)
Hooker
$15,000 CA FARMWORKER ANNUAL MEDIAN INCOME
Over the past 20 years,
farmworker income has
shown little increase.
UCM CLC
CALIFORNIA FARMWORKERS DESERVE FAIR PAY
FARM LABOR CONTRACTOR BOND
CA requires contractors to carry a bond to be licensed by the Labor Comissioner, which acts like insurance to cover unpaid wages or penalties.
ACCESSIBILITY
Despite this safeguard, many workers are unable to recover stolen wages due to limited access to information, barriers in proving claims, company bankruptcy, and insufficient funds when multiple workers are affected.
NO FUNDS
Contractors carry bonds but pay only a small annual premium--often as little as $250. Low bond amounts run out quickly, leaving workers unpaid.
“I ask for your support for Bill 2227 so that we have a guarantee fund. If a contractor steals our salary, we have a way to recover what he steals from us. Thank you.”
(Farmworker from Santa Barbara County)
AB2227 STRENGHTENS THE EXISTING SYSTEM
Improving transparency:
Making information about contractor bonds publicly accessible.
Increasing access:
Helping workers obtain the documentation needed to prove wage theft.
Expanding protections:
Ensuring more funds are available for workers are fully compensated, particularly when multiple workers are impacted.
“It’s not enough for us, for rent or food. The nanny. And because I’m a single mom. Gasoline. Here, life is very expensive and it is not fair that this company continues to steal from us…with a lot of sacrifice we get up every day to go to work regardless of the cold or the hot weather, so that in the end they steal our salary.“
(Farmworker from Santa Barbara County)
Grassroots members of the CFC working directly with farmworkers were given permission from farmworkers to share their stories, and the hardships created and compounded by experiences of lost wages. As a group of people that experience not just lost wages, but discrimination, language barriers, and legal vulnerability, their stories are invaluable.
“The company changed its name three times. I only have one check stub, and he told me he’d changed the name because of a problem. I have copies of checks with different company names.”
(Farmworker from
Coachella Valley)
“I worked for him night and day, and I’d sleep for an hour, two hours, then go back, order some burritos, eat, and sleep in my pickup.” […] I feel terrible. Sometimes I cry so much. I worked nights just so they wouldn’t pay me—it’s not fair. Someone has to help me.”
(Farmworker from Fresno County)
“I felt humiliated. They took advantage of us and said we couldn’t do anything because we didn’t have papers. They said that if we spoke up, no one would believe us because “we didn’t exist here.”
(Farmworker from Coachella Valley)
“We’ve already submitted a claim to the Labor Commissioner’s office, and we’ve been waiting for two years without receiving payment for minimum wage
or overtime.”
(Farmworker from
Fresno County)
“I didn’t know that anything past 8 hours was overtime, and the guys who’d been there a long time would screw you over with your hours. That’s what happened to me when I started. I ended up putting in as many as 186 hours in a two-week period, and they only paid me about 60 or 70 as regular hours.”
(Farmworker from
Coachella Valley)
“Sometimes I’d finish after 12 hours and they’d tell me to go home and come back two hours later. If someone didn’t show up for the night shift, I had to cover that shift and then work my regular shift. The first year I took on night shifts, and when the next shift didn’t show up at 5 a.m., they’d tell me to go home for an hour or two and come back to cover the other shift.”
(Farmworker from Fresno County)
“it took me a while to recover. I borrowed money from my sister-in-law and paid her back; I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t lent me the money, because not every woman can handle that— imagine the expenses, the food—I don’t know what I would have done.”
(Farmworker from Coachella Valley)
“Sometimes you start advocating for better pay, but then the next season they don’t call us to work anymore because, to them, we’re a problem—just for demanding a more decent wage.”
(Farmworker from
Fresno County)
FARMWORKER WAGE THEFT REFORM ACT
AB 2227 helps ensure that existing protections work as intended. By improving access and accountability, the bill supports:
- Fair compensation for work already performed
- Greater accountability within the farm labor system
- Stronger, more reliable protections for working families