Proposed changes by the U.S Department of Labor to a federal program designed to bring seasonal immigrant labor to American farms helps reform the program, but doesn”™t go far enough, some farmers say.
The federal H-2A program is designed to help get a seasonal, temporary foreign work force onto farms.
According to the labor department, the H-2A program “establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.”
The labor department plans to review the program’s current regulations, most of which have not been updated in more than 20 years, and to propose changes to provide the nation’s farmers with an “orderly and timely flow of legal workers while protecting the rights of both U.S. and H-2A workers,” according to a news release.
Orange County onion grower Chris Pawelski said the proposed reforms tackle some of the points of contention farmers have with the program.
During the review, the department identified a number of practices it will consider changing. Currently, only a little more than 75,000 workers participate in the H-2A program, while there are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 illegal immigrant workers on America’s farms, according to federal statistics
One reason for that, according to Pawelski, is the enormous amount of paperwork required just to apply for the program.
He said the application process involves too much time-consuming paperwork and the backlog of applications means it takes a long time for them to be reviewed and approved.
“It”™s good they”™re looking at streamlining the process,” he said.
Another proposed change will modernize the H-2A program so that it can serve its intended purpose of providing farm employers with a legal means to hire agricultural workers when no U.S. workers can be found, according to the department.
The methodology for calculating wages for H-2A workers would also be revised to better reflect wages by locality, occupation and skill level. Tailoring H-2A wages to the condition of local labor markets will better protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers, according to the department.
This would be an improvement, said Pawelski, because under current H-2A guidelines, farmers must pay their foreign employees the Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR). The AEWR are the minimum wage rates that the Department of Labor has determined must be offered and paid to U.S. and foreign workers by employers of nonimmigrant foreign agricultural workers.
The AEWR differ from state to state, and farmers who employ foreign workers through the H-2A program must pay their laborers whichever is higher between the AEWR, the state”™s minimum wage, and the applicable prevailing wage. The prevailing wage rate is defined by the DOL as the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in the requested occupation in the area of intended employment.
Pawelski said that in nearly all cases, the AEWR is the highest wage.
“There”™s a lot that”™s lacking, but it”™s a nice step,” said Pawelski. “But it doesn”™t go as far as it should.”
Bob Hokanson, a former dairy farmer and currently the national affairs director for the New York State Farm Bureau, said many of the farmers he has talked to are concerned the proposed changes don”™t address the “three-quarters guarantee” that mandates a farmer offer each worker employment for at least three-fourths of the workdays in the work contract period and any extensions
If the employer offers less employment, he must pay the amount the worker would have earned had the worker been employed the guaranteed number of days, even if all the work is already completed, said Hokanson, which many farmers take issue with.
He also has heard some farmers express alarm that fines and penalties for violating certain aspects of the program have been proposed to be increased.
“But overall we are pleased there”™s been some movement in this,” he said of reforms to the H-2A program.
Hokanson said the farm bureau is in the process of sending out questionnaires to its members on the proposed changes in order to compile a list of feedback.
