NYT: H-2A a "cheap shot at workers"

From the New York Times, a (surprise) editorial critical of Bush Administration revamping of the H-2A guest worker program. From the piece called A cheap shot at workers:

No one expects that the H-2A overhaul will be enough to get most growers to stop hiring illegal immigrants, who work desperately hard for rock-bottom wages. The shortage of farm labor is too great. But by weakening protections for legal workers, the changes would invite abuse and make a flawed program worse.

This new plan harks back to the shameful days of the bracero program of the 1940’s to the 60’s, when Mexicans were recruited into brutal serfdom in the United States. Abuses within today’s H-2A program are rampant; advocacy groups like Farmworker Justice routinely document examples of workers who, chained to their employers and unprotected by the government, submit to abusive conditions, wage theft and other exploitation.

There is a better long-term solution. It’s AgJobs, a federal bill that died with previous efforts at comprehensive immigration reform. It would give undocumented farmworkers a chance to legalize and the right to change jobs, a crucial means of discouraging abuse by employers. Its goal is to bolster workers’ rights and build a more productive, stable work force. AgJobs isn’t perfect, but it was born from long negotiations among growers and workers’ advocates — a compromise that the Bush administration’s plans could blow apart.

Media coverage: H-2A reform

So far my inbox is quiet from industry associations, but here is the reaction so far to the Administration's H-2A reforms.....

New rules will ease farm hiring, affect wages SF Chronicle

The regulations were condemned by labor, farmworker and immigrant advocates, who said they would worsen wages and working conditions for both U.S. agricultural workers and temporary guest workers.

Representatives of the farming industry, which had worked with the Bush administration to change the rules, voiced optimism that the program would be less burdensome and more attractive to use. Fewer than 10 percent of U.S. farmworkers are believed to be employed under the H-2A program.

A Department of Labor statement issued Thursday describing the changes said the new rule "addresses a number of criticisms about the current program, including that it is so cumbersome and prone to delays that many agriculture employers refuse to use it." The statement noted that the changes are the first in 20 years.

H-2A procedures streamlined Borderfire report

Key reforms in the rule:


* Relaxing the current limitations on H-2A employers to petition for multiple, unnamed agricultural workers;

* Extending from 10 days to 30 days the time a temporary or seasonal agricultural worker may remain in the country following the expiration of his or her temporary H-2A stay;

* Reducing from six months to three months the time an H-2A worker who has spent three years in the United States must reside and be physically present outside the United States before he or she is eligible to re-obtain H-2A status;

* Allowing H-2A workers, who are changing from one H-2A employer to another H-2A employer, to begin work with the new petitioning employer upon the filing of a new H-2A petition, provided the new employer is participating in USCIS’ E-Verify program (accesible through the "Related Links" section of this page);

* Prohibiting H-2A employers and recruiters from imposing certain fees on prospective H-2A workers as a condition of employment;

* Requiring an approved temporary labor certification in connection with all H-2A petitions;

* Requiring employers to notify USCIS when H-2A workers fail to show up for work, complete the work more than 30 days early, are terminated, or abscond from the worksite; and

* Permitting the approval of H-2A petitions only for nationals of certain countries designated as important to the operation of the program and appearing on a list to be published annually in the Federal Register. The initial list of participating countries to be published simultaneously with this Final Rule includes Mexico, Jamaica, and 26 others. DHS may allow on a case-by-case basis a worker from a country not on the list to be eligible for the H-2A program if such participation is in the U.S. interest.

This rule will also establish a land-border exit system pilot program requiring H-2A workers admitted through a port of entry participating in the pilot program to also depart through a participating port and to present designated biographic and/or biometric information upon departure.

These changes are being made in further fulfillment of the commitment made by President George W. Bush’s Administration in August 2007, after Congress’ failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, to address immigration challenges using existing authorities.

This final rule supplements the extensive reforms of the H-2A program that are included in the Department of Labor’s final rule, also being published today. The final rule has been transmitted to the Federal Register and will become effective 30 days after it is posted.

New H-2A rule

From the Department of Labor Web site:


H-2A Final Rule: On December 5, 2008, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared for publication the Department’s H-2A Final Rule. Click here for the preamble to the Final Rule and click here for the Final Rule. Please note this document has not yet received final approval from the Office of the Federal Register, which may make minor changes prior to publication. The official version of the rule, as published, may differ from that cleared by OMB.


TK: A 394 page preamble and a 142 page final rule. It will take a while to go through this rule.


Early coverage:

Bush unveils rules for guest workers NYT

The Bush administration announced new rules on Thursday that it said would lessen the bureaucratic burden on employers seeking to hire foreign farm workers. Advocates for the workers, however, contended the changes would depress wages and working conditions.

H-2A : drumroll please

As we prepare for release of the Administration's H2A final changes, here is what the media is writing so far....

Bush Administration makes last minute changes in farm worker hiring Sacbee

In a move that could have a profound impact in California, the Bush administration has changed the H-2A guest farmworker program.

The changes will make it easier for employers to use, with relaxed wage, housing and recruitment requirements, according to the administration, which has warned that Homeland Security will be cracking down on illegal immigrant workers.

The little-used federal H-2A program allows growers to import temporary workers for short periods. The Bush administration's controversial changes to the program, which were met with fierce protest by labor advocates and lukewarm employer reaction, are expected to be published Dec. 18 in the Federal Register and take effect in January after Barack Obama's inauguration.

In its final days, the administration "is making it easier for employers to bring in massive numbers of workers with fewer regulations and no oversight," said Bruce Goldstein, director of Farmworker Justice in Washington, D.C. He said advocates will explore going to court or Congress to reverse the changes.

Only a tiny fraction of farm laborers are H-2A workers in California, the nation's richest farm region. Industry estimates are that many, if not most, of a nearly 1 million-strong peak period workforce could be undocumented.

Western Growers Association President Tom Nassif called some advocates' concerns about the H-2A changes "overstated." But he didn't express strong enthusiasm for the reforms, either. He called the new rules "a temporary fix" and said he would continue to push – in unison with Goldstein and the United Farm Workers – for Obama and Congress to adopt a federal bill called AgJOBS, which would open a path for farmworkers to earned legal status if they continue to work in agriculture for three to five more years.

New rules make it easier to get foreign farm workers From McClatchy

A Labor Department spokesman said Wednesday night that the final rules would be made public today and published in the Federal Register Dec. 18, which means they'd take effect two days before Barack Obama is sworn in as president Jan. 20.

About 75,000 foreign guest workers obtain visas annually under the H-2A program. The program is an agricultural cousin to the H-1B visa program favored by the high-tech industry, designed to aid employers who are unable to find U.S. workers for specialized tasks.

U.S. farmers, though, consider the 50-year-old program slow and cumbersome, and it provides only a fraction of the U.S. farm-work force. California, for example, uses about 500 H-2A workers annually, while it has about 300,000 migrant farmworkers.

"It needs to be reformed," Frank Gasperini, executive vice president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, said of the H-2A program. "It doesn't work as well as it should."

Changes afoot in farm hiring From AP

The Bush administration published a proposed version of the new rule last Feb. 13 and received nearly 12,000 public comments, Shawn added. The next version will be a final rule and can take effect 30 days after publication. Some of its provisions would take effect in mid-January and others later in the year, the farmworker groups said.

Farm worker advocates and the United Farm Workers union said the version that appeared on the Web site would lead to a flood of cheaper workers.

"The government has decided to offer agriculture employers really low wages, low benefits, no government oversight to bring in foreign workers on restricted visas and thereby convince them they should do this instead of hiring undocumented workers," said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice, a group that advocates for farmworkers.