Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Announces Proposal to Restore Labor Protections in H-2A Guestworker Program
Written by barb howe Thursday, 03 September 2009 15:06
The H-2A agricultural guestworker program is supposed to ensure that U.S. workers are offered decent wages and working conditions before employers are permitted to hire foreign guestworkers based on claimed labor shortages, but the Bush Administration's changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight. The new proposal would restore the guarantee that US workers will be hired before foreign workers; a protection that was weakened under the Bush regulations.
The new proposal would also restore the wage system used under the previous regulations which will overcome wage cuts that US and foreign workers experienced during 2009 due to the Bush Administration's changes; many workers lost about $2.00 per hour under the Bush rules. H-2A workers in North Carolina, for example, earned $8.85/hr last year under the old regulations. This year under the Bush rules, they are getting only $7.25/hr. Under the wage rate calculation of the previous rules, these workers would be earning $9.34/hr this year.
Some changes that were made under the Bush Administration that were helpful will be retained. For example, the farm labor contractors who bring in H-2A workers will have to post a bond so that when wage violations occur, the workers will have money to recover.
In addition, some improvements over the old rules have occurred that were long needed. For example, the job offers that employers must submit to prove they are recruiting US workers will now be posted online so that US workers and their advocates can learn about them in a timely way.
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