To the Editor:
As I read Sean Mulkerrin’s article in last week’s Enterprise, concerning overtime pay for farm workers, I was struck by the photos accompanying that article [“GOP pols blast lowering threshold for farm workers’ overtime pay,” The Altamont Enterprise, Aug. 10, 2022].

It looked to me like a whole bunch of white people decrying paying overtime to farm workers after 40 hours. Keep in mind, this wouldn’t take effect for another 10 years. Peter Ten Eyck (and I’m just guessing here), one of the wealthiest people in Albany County, portraying that overtime pay as the death knell for farming in New York State, seems a little disingenuous. I think he’ll be OK.

I also wondered, if white people were out there working in those fields and orchards, would the hue and cry concerning overtime be quite so vociferous? A 40-hour work week, and overtime pay after that, is a benefit almost universally enjoyed here in New York State. Apparently, not so much for the brown folks picking our fruit. How about we recognize the hard work they do, and treat them like everyone else?

Keith Cook

Albany

Editor’s note: See related editorial.