|
The Bush H-2A Guestworker Program
Bush H-2A
Regulations
The new rules took effect
on January 17, 2009.
Read a sign-on letter from approximately 100 groups opposing the
changes .
Here's
a
2-page summary of the Bush regulations.
A more detailed
5-page summary is also available.
The wage rates under the new H-2A
regulations are available at
http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OESWizardStart.aspx.
The code you would most likely use is 45-2092
(Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery Greenhouse),
although some workers may also come in under 45-2093 (Farmworkers,
Farm and Ranch Animals). The applicable wage rate will most likely be
the Level I wage.
H-2A workers who were recruited or hired
before January 17, 2009 will continue to be paid the wage rate in
effect at the time of recruitment or hire (the
2008 AEWRs are available here). According to DOL, employers
may
not reduce worker’s wage
rates if a lower wage rate could be calculated under the new
regulations.
Legal Challenge to Bush Regulations
On January 12th of this year, farmworker organizations filed a lawsuit
in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. In addition to the
complaint alleging that the new (Bush) regulations are illegal, the
plaintiffs requested a temporary restraining order against the DOL and
DHS to prevent the new regulations from taking effect.
Plaintiffs in the case
were the farmworker unions UFW and PCUN and individual US and H-2A
farmworkers. They were represented by attorneys from Farmworker
Justice, the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr,
Florida Legal Services and the Law Offices of Marcos Camacho.
On Thursday, January
15th, the court denied the motion. The judge
concluded that the plaintiffs did not meet
the legal standard for emergency court action, but did not decide
whether the regulations are illegal. Although the court denied
the motion for emergency relief, the underlying case continues.
Statement by Farmworker Justice on the ruling
 .
Statement by UFW and PCUN
.
Major U.S. papers condemn Bush's changes to guestworker program
New York Times:
A Cheap Shot at Workers,
Undoing the damage done;
Miami Herald:
Rules changes target vulnerable workers;
LA Times:
Bush rewrites the rules.
December 18, 2008
Bush
Administration Finalizes Changes to Guestworker Program
Changes Slash Requirements to Hire U.S. Workers, Reduce Wages
and Worker Protections for Nation’s Farmworkers
(washington
dc) The Bush Administration today finalized midnight
regulation changes to slash wages, make it easier to hire foreign
workers, and reduce worker protections under the H-2A agricultural
guestworker program. The changes, published today in the
Federal Register, take effect January 17.
“These changes are
devastating for our nation’s farmworkers,” said Bruce Goldstein,
Executive Director of Farmworker Justice. “What the DOL is doing
is illegal and morally wrong. The DOL should be protecting
workers’ rights, not terminating them, especially in this time of
economic crisis. Congress should act immediately to reverse the
changes.”
The DOL’s many harmful
revisions to the H-2A visa program include reducing obligations for
growers to effectively recruit U.S. workers before applying to bring
in guestworkers, lowering the wage rates by changing the program’s
wage formula and eliminating government oversight of the program.
“Eliminating labor law
enforcement in an industry known for violating the minimum wage is
irresponsible and unacceptable,” explained Farmworker Justice staff
attorney Adrienne DerVartanian. “The DOL is not enforcing worker
rights in the current program and is allowing employers to bypass U.S.
workers in favor of hiring vulnerable temporary foreign workers.”
In anticipation of DOL’s
changes to the program, Farmworker Justice released a report last week
documenting abuses that have occurred under the current H-2A program
due to lack of enforcement and government oversight. According
to the report, “the DOL’s proposed changes will only make a bad
program worse. The cases listed [in this report] are “just the tip of
the iceberg” because guestworkers are often reluctant to complain.
The report highlights the program’s negative impact on U.S. workers as
well. In one case, a grower in Arizona replaced nearly his
entire U.S. workforce –some 200 legal farmworkers—with guestworkers
instead. A lawsuit on the case is currently pending.
Download a copy of the report here.
The new rules, by
minimizing oversight of employers’ applications for H-2A guestworkers,
could result in the growth in the program in 2009 from 75,000 to
200,000 guestworkers. There is no annual visa cap.
“These midnight
regulations put farmworkers in this country back more than 60 years.
Is this really the legacy the Bush Administration wants to leave
behind?” concluded Goldstein.
[Back to Top]
Statements and Reactions
Statement by United Farm Workers
Statement by Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Statement by AFL-CIO
America's Voice: Common Sense Immigration Reform
Statement by Representative Xavier Becerra
Statement by Representative Hilda Solis
Statement by Key House Members
UFW Statement:
LAST DITCH BID BY BUSH
ADMINISTRATION WILL LOWER FARM WORKER WAGES AND HELP GROWERS
REPLACE DOMESTIC WORKERS WITH FOREIGN LABORERS
The Bush
Administration today announced major changes in the nation’s H2A
agricultural guest worker program that would make it easier for
growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers, reduce housing
benefits and make it easier to hire imported foreign laborers
instead of U.S. field workers.
“In the
midst of a critical economic crisis, we cannot afford to expand guest
worker programs and reduce the wages of the lowest-paid U.S. workers,”
said Arturo S. Rodriguez, president of the Cesar Chavez-founded United
Farm Workers of America. “This parting gesture from the Bush
Administration symbolizes its failure to work with the Latino
community on this key issue.”
The new
regulations mean that farm employers will no longer be responsible for
certifying that labor shortages exists and therefore engage in
meaningful recruitment of U.S. farm workers before requesting imported
H2A foreign field workers. In addition, for the first time domestic
workers could be paid less and receive fewer benefits than their H-2A
guestworker counterparts. The changes come even as the administration
has failed to enforce existing rules.
The plight
of U.S. farm workers laboring under Third World working conditions on
American soil has never been more apparent than last summer when six
farm workers died in California fields due to heat-related causes and
the growers’ negligence in providing water and shade in violation of a
state regulation issued at the request of the UFW by Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. DOL’s new rules open a gaping loophole in the
employers’ obligation to provide housing and will allow employers to
claim that they face an emergency unavailability of housing and must
put the farmworkers up in a decrepit former motel or substandard
mobile homes. Such existing working conditions are horrendous and
deadly; the UFW argues they need to be improved, not worsened.
“Slashing
wages and reducing benefits for farm workers is not the solution we
need,” Rodriguez continued. “These changes from President Bush ignore
the real issue of providing a safe and reliable agricultural work
force along with a blatant disregard by the Bush administration for
the needs of the fastest growing voter population in the country.”
The UFW is calling on Congress to act quickly to reverse these
regulatory changes as hiring for the upcoming seasons begins.
Founded in
1962 by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America is the
nation's first successful and largest farm workers union, currently
active in 10 states. The UFW continues to organize in major
agricultural industries across the nation.
[Back to Top]
|
