SALINAS >> A bill that used Taylor Farms as its rallying cry is likely to have a major affect across the state.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the “Temp Worker Protection Bill” on Sunday, which holds businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage or safety laws.
Starting in summer 2015, companies that use temp agencies — like the ones Taylor Farms uses in Tracy — would be just as accountable to worker complaints.
California had more than 300,000 jobs credited to the about 3,000 so-called temporary help service agencies in the first three months of this year, according to Patrick Joyce of the state Employment Development Department.
There were 13 temp agencies in Monterey County during that time equaling an average of 710 jobs a month.
The legislation will likely have a large impact locally, said Cesar Lara, executive director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.
“This gives workers rights,” he said. “It”s a question of liability.”
Lara said they have examples of a contractor not doing something right, the worker filing a complaint against that contractor and then the contractor going out of business.
“Then, the company they are really doing the work for just washes its hands of it,” Lara said.
Bill author Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina, used Taylor Farms as his example for why the bill was needed.
He said the Salinas company was unfairly keeping workers at its Tracy facilities in temporary positions, sometimes up to a decade, without benefits or job security.
Yet Taylor Farms CEO Bruce Taylor repeatedly denied the accusations, stating temporary workers already have full wage, hour and working condition protection from the state and federal Labor Departments, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, customer audits and several non-governmental organizations working on their behalf.
However, the company”s Salinas packaging facility is drastically different. It also uses temporary workers but after 30 days they become part of a union and get benefits, such as health care and a 401(k) plan. Tracy workers earn an average of $2.50 less an hour than roughly 3,000 Salinas workers, the Teamsters say.
Taylor said in late August if the bill passed it would make no difference for his company.
“Taylor Farms Tracy operations treat our 400 temporary workers with the same workplace safety, dignity and respect as our 500 full-time workers” he said. “Over half of the promotions awarded in Tracy the last two years have gone to our temporary workers.”
Phillip Molnar can be reached at 726-4361.
