Federal Judge in NC Stops Solis Reform of H-2A Guestworker Program
Written by Bruce Goldstein Monday, 29 June 2009 20:26
A bad day for farmworkers. Monday, June 29. A federal district court judge in North Carolina entered a preliminary injunction nationwide, preventing Secretary of Labor Solis from reversing the Bush-Chao changes to the H-2A guestworker program. The judge said that he expected on full consideration to rule in favor of the growers that sued Solis and that the growers would suffer harm by having to pay the higher wage rates that the 20-year-old regulations required, rather than the Bush-Chao wage rates. The Department of Labor is the defendant.
The United Farm Workers and individual farmworkers, represented by Farmworker Justice and other counsel, intervened in the lawsuit to object to the growers' request. The decision came down in very late afternoon eastern time Monday.
Meanwhile, there is a lawsuit pending in federal court in Washinton, D.C. that Farmworker Justice and others filed on behalf of the UFW, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, PCUN (Oregon's farmworker union) and individual farmworkers. In the D.C. case, plaintiffs have asked for a substantive ruling on the merits to overturn the wage system that the Bush-Chao regulations imposed, slashing the wages of U.S. and foreign workers at H-2A employers. The federal judge effectively said that Secretary Chao must impose the Bush-Chao wage rates without reviewing their legality, and their legality is under challenge in the DC case.
Next steps are being considered.
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