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Diane's avatar

I suggest you go to this site: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Committees/HLWS/2025-03-12-15-00/HB2548/PUB/Details

Read the report by Jenny Dressler and click on a few of the testimonies, pro and con, submitted by folks. No clever similes and folkisms there, but it does make me wonder why there is a need for yet another layer of bureaucracy when that report seems to lay out and address everything that is needed, showing that concerns are already addressed.

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CharP's avatar

Glad to see so many people speaking out. Hope their testimony is taken into account.

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Tim Larson's avatar

Great job of explaining this potential disaster! 👍🏻

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JJ Sweeney's avatar

Representative Javardi -

What solutions to you propose for dealing with the "bad apples" and treating farm workers humanely, while protecting our local and smaller farms?

JJ

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Cyrus Javadi's avatar

Glad you asked! Instead of burying all farms—good and bad—under a pile of new regulations, we should be targeting enforcement where it’s actually needed.

A few better ways to handle this:

1. Stronger enforcement of existing labor laws—Most farmers already treat their workers well, but for the handful who don’t, we should be focusing on catching and punishing those bad actors rather than overregulating everyone.

2. Whistleblower protections—Encouraging farmworkers to report abuse (without fear of retaliation) would be far more effective than layering on more bureaucracy.

3. Incentivizing best practices—Rather than just mandating more costs, why not offer tax breaks or support for farms that voluntarily implement higher labor standards?

4. Recognizing the realities of seasonal work—Rigid, one-size-fits-all labor laws don’t fit an industry where nature, not a break room clock, sets the schedule.

At the end of the day, we should be aiming for policies that punish actual wrongdoing while ensuring small farms can survive and workers are treated fairly. What we don’t need is another well-intentioned but destructive mandate that makes it harder for everyone to succeed.

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CharP's avatar

Another great article! 😍

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Jim Heffernan's avatar

Damn you, Cyrus. Stop making sense, I'm looking for an argument and it's slim pickings. This sort of dialogue is reminiscent of Mansfield-Dirksen days.

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Betty Holladay's avatar

This bill nay cover home care workers. Separate out the farmers and concentrate on home care then. Thus saith a union supporter.

Betty Holladay

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Javier's avatar

Betty, Your approach will raise health care costs for the elderly and get the state government involved in home health care. This will make for a less efficient and more expensive system.

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