They'll start showing up next month on farms across New Jersey. Thousands of seasonal workers will plant fields and trim trees, then tend and harvest crops during the spring and summer.
Up to 180 work at Joe Marino's Sun Valley Orchards in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, and many - including migrant farm hands from Mexico - earn $7.25 an hour, the state and federal minimum wage.
They would see their paychecks increase under a proposal by Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D., Essex) to boost the state minimum rate to $8.50 and to tie it to the consumer price index, which measures the cost of living.
While no legislative action seems imminent, the proposed increase - which would give New Jersey the third-highest minimum wage in the nation - has stirred heated debate in Trenton as well as in the state's agricultural community.
Farmers say it would place them at a disadvantage with competitors who pay lower minimum rates in other states. It would drive up their expenses during an economic downturn and hike the cost of produce.
The rate in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York also is $7.25.
Oliver says the move would provide "livable wages for the lowest-income earners," while helping the economy by increasing consumer spending. About 40,000 New Jersey residents currently earn the $7.25 rate.
"We were pleasantly surprised by the proposal," said Jessica Culley, a community organizer for the Farm Workers Support Committee, a Glassboro migrant-worker group with 4,000 members. "We support it, given the cost of living, particularly in New Jersey."
About 20,000 migrant workers are employed in the state, Culley said.
Gov. Christie, a Republican, has said he'd consider the wage increase after the state's 9 percent unemployment rate dropped. A lower-paying job is better than no job, he said.
GOP legislators are concerned that the move might cause already-strained employers to cut jobs or workers' hours.
In the end, farmers such as Marino say they're looking for fairness. "There should be a level playing field," he said. "The minimum wage should be set federally" with no variations from state to state.
Marino, president of the 800-member New Jersey Vegetable Growers Association, farms 2,000 acres in Gloucester and Salem Counties, raising peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, and peaches.