MAINE MORNING STAR • September 20, 2023
This summer and fall, a committee created by Gov. Janet Mills is tasked with coming up with a policy to establish a minimum wage for farmworkers in Maine, as agriculture laborers are currently only covered by the lower federal minimum wage and generally don’t receive overtime protections. The effort comes after Mills, a Democrat, vetoed a bill in July that would have made farmworkers subject to the state minimum wage — currently $13.80 an hour compared to $7.25 on the federal level — while also granting them limited overtime protections. The governor’s rejection of the measure prompted an outcry from farmworker advocates, unions and progressive groups, who argued that having access to such safeguards is a matter of fundamental fairness.