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February 12, 2010

New Guest-Worker Rules Seek to Increase Wages
By JULIA PRESTON

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced new rules on Thursday for the temporary immigrant farm workers program, saying they would raise wages and strengthen labor protections for foreign and American workers.
Under the new rules, growers will no longer be able to attest that they tried to find American workers to fill jobs given to migrants, but will have to prove they conducted job searches. The Labor Department will establish a national electronic registry of farm jobs to assist the effort.
American farm worker organizations hailed the changes, but growers’ groups said they would be costly and could be prohibitively cumbersome for many farmers, particularly smaller producers.
Growers “are just beside themselves that these rules keep changing; it just makes it impossible,” said Craig Regelbrugge, a spokesman for the American Nursery and Landscape Association.

Many of the new measures restore previous procedures for the program, known as H-2A for the type of visa that foreign workers receive, after the rules were changed in the last days of the Bush administration. Farm worker organizations strongly objected to those changes, arguing they had rapidly lowered wages for American agricultural laborers.
Labor officials said Thursday that the method of calculating wages for temporary foreign workers introduced by the Bush administration had reduced farm workers’ wages by an average of a dollar an hour in the year they were in effect. The new rules, which take effect on March 15, revert to the prior method for setting wages.
“The major change is that we are asking employers to prioritize those American workers that might be available,” Ms. Solis said. “And we are trying to make it realistic in terms of wages that can be earned by the farm workers that are currently out in the fields.”
The rules restore the role of state workforce agencies in carrying out inspections of farms seeking temporary foreign workers, including mandatory inspection of the housing that employers are required to provide.
“We are very grateful to Secretary Solis for her willingness to spend the time and resources to ensure that the most vulnerable workers are protected,” said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice, an advocacy group in Washington.
In California, growers said that new restrictions on the jobs guest workers in the program could perform were too inflexible for the rapidly changing conditions of agriculture. “I am not optimistic that any significant numbers of growers are going to be able to use this program,” said Bryan Little, Director of Labor Affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation.
The new rules require growers to provide contracts to foreign guest workers before they leave their home countries, to protect against abuse by recruiters.

While the Department of Homeland Security runs the program, the Labor Department approves growers’ requests for foreign workers. In 2009, labor officials said, the department approved 94 percent of the applications growers submitted for H-2A workers, bringing 86,014 foreign migrants to the United States.
The program supplies only a fraction of the about one million farm workers in the United States. At least half of those workers are illegal immigrants, labor officials have estimated, with many farm employers hiring those immigrants instead of dealing with the slow-moving guest worker process.
While sharply divided over the new rules, growers and farm workers agreed that the Obama administration should press Congress to pass legislation overhauling the immigration system. Most versions of that legislation include a bill that creates a new guest worker program that all sides in agriculture have long supported.

To see entire paper, click this link: anla_h2a-regs_10-09.pdf

Here are some points and comments from our executive board regarding the new law for separate irrigation meters.

No green industry org.s’ opposed this legislation, including municipalities and here are some reasons why:

 1.       Many municipalities across NC have been requiring or recommending separate meters for years others have not. Granted, impact fees, meter installation fees and backflow requirements have continued to rise in price but what hasn’t. As far as the legislation was concerned, the state and municipalities must know where the water is being used. There is no other factual way to know other than to meter. Remember that in the past outdoor water use has been grossly overstated by municipalities and the state. This wasn’t a quick light switch approach. The debate over water issues carried on for nearly a year from mid 2007 through 2008, all of this 2009 legislative session and in fact it still continues to this day and will continue for several more years until the state is satisfied that our water policies and practices are in balance with our supply. 

2.       Investment in an irrigation system must include an analysis of return on investment regardless of where you live and what the fees are. We have to sell the benefit and value of investing in irrigation, the efficient use of water to establish and preserve landscaping and the resulting appreciation in property value. 

3.       How can we as the GIC possibly address what each individual municipality charges as a water impact/meter fee? This is a local political issue. What is the local community willing to accept? 

4.       As far as a rallying cry for membership to support opposing or trying to overturn this rule…we have tried to engage green industry businesses across the state and John Deere was on the team at the time and still is. There is no going back, what is the alternative? I hope this offers a few other points to consider. We see this more about the municipalities fees than the law itself. It will be up to local communities challenging how they will be priced.

Last week the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced changes to the H-2A regulations that are intended to streamline the hiring process of temporary and seasonal agricultural workers.

As you can imagine, these changes have a significant impact on your business and our industry and as such, we wanted to share with you the details.

You can download a copy of the letter sent out by the Office of Communications of the USCIS right here:

USCIS H-2A Program Procedure Changes

Additionally, there’s a Q&A Sheet that goes along with the letter which you can download right here:

USCIS H-2A Program Procedure Changes Q&A

The Department of Homeland Security has extended the comment period on its proposed H-2A regulations to April 14 to be consistent with the recent US Department of Labor extension on it’s related regulatory proposal.

SUMMARY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announces the extension of the public comment period for the proposed rule entitled `Changes to Requirements Affecting H-2A Nonimmigrants.’ The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2008. Written comments on the proposed rule were to be submitted to USCIS on or before March 31, 2008 (a 45-day comment period) in order to be assured of consideration. USCIS has decided to accept comments from the public through April 14, 2008.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published at 73 FR 8230, February 13, 2008, is extended through April 14, 2008. Comments received by USCIS after this date will not be considered.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by DHS Docket No. USCIS-

2007-0055, by one of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Mail: Chief, Regulatory Management Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20529. To ensure proper handling, please reference DHS Docket No. USCIS-2007-0055 on your correspondence. This mailing address may also be used for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions.

Hand Delivery/Courier: Regulatory Management Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20529. Contact Telephone Number (202) 272-8377.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hiroko Witherow, Service Center Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Suite 3000, Washington, DC 20529, telephone (202) 272-8410.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 13, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register entitled “Changes to Requirements Affecting H-2A Nonimmigrants’ at 73 FR 8230. This rule proposed amendments to DHS regulations affecting temporary and seasonal agricultural workers within the H-2A nonimmigrant classification and their U.S. employers. You may view a copy of the February 13, 2008, proposed rule at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-2532.pdf

USCIS has decided to extend the comment period through April 14, 2008. Comments received by USCIS after April 14, 2008, will not be considered in drafting the final rule.

Emilio T. Gonzalez,

Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.