Murdock hopes legislature sees the light on ag overtime bill
By Terry Murry on Friday, February 11th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock just returned from Salem. As the president of the Oregon Association of Counties, Murdock visited with legislators to discuss things like overtime for agriculture workers.
Murdock said that he is deeply concerned with improving conditions for migrant workers and serves as vice chair of the immigration committee for the National Association of Counties. He is convinced that the bill being considered by the Oregon Legislature will only make things worse.
“Migrant workers come here to make as much money as they can in a short window of seasonal work and they want to work as many hours as they can,” Murdock said.
He added that farmers and ranchers operate on such thin margins that the bill could actually hurt the people it wants to help.
“A lot of the farms that are operating on a very thin margin, are just going to end work shifts at 40 hours and get other people to come in and do the next 40 hours,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re trying to do something good there are unintended consequences and I think this is something they better think through so that they don’t hurt rather than help.”
