TRI-CITY (Washington) HERALD

November 14, 2007

Finding workers theme of Farm Bureau meeting

By Mary Hopkin, Herald staff writer

Agricultural producers are wedged solidly between a rock and a hard place when hiring workers to pick fruit, prune trees and plant crops that are part of the Mid-Columbia's $750 million agriculture industry.

About 200 farmers, orchardists, processors and other ag industry professionals sought guidance at the Washington Farm Bureau's daylong labor conference earlier this week in Spokane.

They're not only concerned about if they will be able to find the workers they need, but also if they'll be able to prove the workers can legally work in the U.S.

"I'm scared to death as to what will happen next year," said Jon Warling, an Othello-based orchardist and farm labor contractor. "I had a neighbor who was picking apples last week -- in a normal freeze year, he wouldn't have been able to do that."

The frustration starts with the lack of a comprehensive immigration bill, fewer seasonal migrant workers available and more stringent employment rules for employers.

"Immigration reform is the top domestic social issue of our time and a top priority for the Farm Bureau," said Dan Fazio, the bureau's director of employer services.

While federal officials are taking extra steps to scrutinize employees throughout the ag industry, Washington state is posting its lowest unemployment numbers ever. Help wanted signs are plentiful throughout the state.

"Total agriculture employment is up throughout the state and the trend for seasonal labor is down," said Greg Weeks, an economist and director of the Employment Security Department's labor market and economic analysis branch.

Employers are required to fill out an I-9 form on all workers, which requires workers to provide documentation. If names and numbers don't match when the Social Security Administration posts employee wages from W-2 forms into the master earnings files, the file is flagged and the SSA sends a "no-match" letter to employees.

Traditionally, the no-match letter was unrelated to immigration enforcement, said Julie Anna Potts, general counsel for the American Farm Bureau Federation. But now attorneys fear the letters will be used against employers as evidence they knowingly hired unauthorized aliens.

Employers can face criminal and civil charges for knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens under the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986.

Most agricultural employers want to hire legally-documented workers, but that can be harder than it sounds. It can take months before they receive a no-match letter -- and by that time, a seasonal worker may be long gone.

Washington agricultural employers are turning more toward H-2A -- a guest worker program for the nation's agriculture industry.

Reuel "Monty" Paradis, the Department of Labor and Industries Region 5 director, said Washington played host to about 1,600 workers through the H-2A program this year and next year he thinks that number could double.

"We're looking at 2,000 to 3,000 next year and some employers are thinking about bringing workers in as early as February," said Paradis.

Employers must prove a need for the workers, ask for them at least 60 days in advance, then provide steady employment and no-cost housing.

But the program can't be used for employers to legalize undocumented workers they already may have working for them, or who may have worked for them in the past. Workers who have worked as undocumented labor in the U.S. in the past are not eligible.

The program has helped fill in holes, said Juan DelAlamo, general manager of DelAl and Associates, who acts as a conduit between employers and government agencies.

"Most employees that join the program stay with it and about 75 percent are coming back to the same employer three years later," he said.

Ignacio Marquez, manager for the Employment Services Department Ag Services Program, said the H-2A program is complex, but they are working to streamline the process and to educate employers and workers.

"It's not enough for them to know it's field work -- they have to understand the terms of the contract -- that they can't just pick cherries and move on to another farm to pick cherries, they might have other responsibilities," Marquez said.

And the long lag time between when employers must request workers and when they actually need them also poses problems.

"That's where the program is flawed," he said. "Workers may be looking for a job in January and agree to the job, but in April, we can't find him."

The Employment Services Department is also been trying to recruit field workers from California and Texas, but some are skeptical about why the workers would want to come to Washington.

"We do have some things other states don't have," Warling said. "They won't let them work over 50 hours a week in California and housing is more expensive."