Judge rejects union bid to reset piece-rates for farm work

A federal judge in Seattle largely upheld the Labor Department’s rules for setting prevailing piece-rates for farm work, declining to order wholesale changes sought by a farmworkers union. Familias Unidas por la Justicia alleged the rules artificially limit piece-rate opportunities for foreign and domestic farmworkers. Instead, farmworkers must work for hourly wages, which pay less, the union claimed. U.S. District Judge John Chun agreed with the union on one rule, but mostly left intact the current methods for setting wages. Although the union’s suit focused on farmworker wages in Washington, a broader ruling in favor of the union could have affected farmworker wages nationwide. “The Labor Department can’t have a separate set of rules for Washington,” Worker and Farmer Labor Association CEO Enrique Gastelum said.

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