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April 29, 2008
U.S. push to get more farmworkers in visa plan draws criticism
By Susan Ferriss
Juan Carlos, 24, swiftly cut and gathered stalk after stalk of asparagus
in a remote part of the San Joaquin Delta. He felt safe enough to admit
that he is as fresh to California as the produce he harvests.
He only crossed the border from Mexico this year.
"Sure, I'd like to have a permit to come legally. That way there
wouldn't be a need to walk through the desert and maybe die," he said in
Spanish. "We could go home to our families after the work is done."
Carlos is referring to a permit under the guest worker program known as
H-2A. Less than 1 percent of California's farmworkers are on H-2A visas.
At peak season, up to 70 percent of the nearly half-million workers in
the fields are undocumented.
The Bush administration, however, has promised to get tougher on illegal
immigration and is trying to cajole American agribusiness to use the
H-2A program instead of hiring undocumented workers. To that end, the
administration in February proposed H-2A changes it ideally wants
finalized by the end of summer.
The U.S. Labor Department, the agency that reviews H-2A petitions, says
it aims to "modernize" the program, making it easier for employers while
protecting better the rights of guest workers and U.S.-based laborers.
Labor unions and California farmers object, though, saying many changes
would make the program worse.
"It's a Band-Aid on a laceration that's going to require a thousand
stitches," said Manuel Cunha, a fruit farmer in Fresno.
They include: a new way to calculate wages for H-2A workers; increasing
the fee of each worker visa from $10 to $100; and, under threat of
higher penalties for lying, allowing businesses to "attest" they
performed all obligatory steps to try to hire U.S. workers. Currently,
they must file hard evidence of their attempts.
Other substantial changes are increasing advertising to recruit U.S.
laborers, and lengthening the H-2A application deadline to no later than
75 days before workers would be needed instead of the current 45 days.
Another major change would allow employers to give H-2A workers housing
vouchers to rent their own quarters instead of providing housing –
unless a governor proves a housing shortage exists in a state.
If California farmers were to switch to the H-2A program, the results
would be profound for the state, which produces half of all U.S.-grown
fresh fruits and vegetables and 20 percent of milk.
Labor advocates fear the wage change would depress wages for all
farmworkers. Farm groups fear it could increase wages.
Farmers have long wanted the housing obligation dropped, but some
acknowledge that California doesn't have enough rental space now to
accommodate the workers who would be needed.
Cunha said he plans to use the H-2A program, but he said requiring
growers to anticipate a need for workers 75 days before the date is
unrealistic. He called the proposed $100 fee for each visa "so
outlandish no one will want to use this."
More California growers have started using the H-2A program in recent
years, but in 2006, only 2,292 of 59,112 H-2A workers nationwide were in
California. California growers specialize in perishable crops and say
the program is too slow to guarantee workers' timely arrival.
'Tighten the screws'
In February, when officials unveiled proposed reforms to the program,
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
expressed sympathy for employers because Congress had not passed earlier
immigration changes that would have allowed some farmworkers to earn
legal status. But he warned businesses that he intends to "continue to
tighten the screws" on illegal immigration.
U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said "unless changes are
made to more accurately reflect today's economy, the labor challenges
confronting U.S. agriculture would just continue to get worse."
United Farm Workers Union President Arturo Rodriguez said he doubts the
changes would improve conditions. "I don't get it. The growers don't
like it either," he said. "If there are that many people who think it's
wrong, why go ahead with this?"
Especially troubling for California is the suggestion to allow H-2A
housing vouchers, he said. "We'd flood these communities with all these
workers who would have no housing."
H-2A workers work up to 10 months and must return home for at least six
months after three years in the same seasonal job. They earn no credit
toward permanent status. The administration wants to shorten the
obligatory time home to three months, but would not extend workers
rights toward a green card.
Bruce Goldstein, director of Farmworker Justice in Washington, D.C.,
said he's worried proposed changes will slash wages and benefits for
guest workers, making them far cheaper than available U.S. workers.
His group and the UFW are not entirely opposed to guest workers, but are
already clashing with growers over the program: In March, the UFW filed
a complaint with federal officials, claiming that a California grower
violated H-2A rules by contracting guest workers instead of rehiring
seasonal U.S. workers.
Farmers want changes
California farmers and labor advocates, in spite of differences, share
common ground on immigration reform. They want legal residency for
workers now here.
"We want our borders secure, too," said Jasper Hempel, vice president of
the Irvine-based Western Growers Association. "But farmworkers aren't
terrorists. There has to be some sanity brought back to this."
Even before the 9/11 terrorist attacks drew attention to U.S. border
security, a coalition of growers and labor activists was lobbying
Congress to pass a bill called AgJOBS. It would offer permanent status
to up to 1.5 million farmworkers if they continued to work on farms at
least three to five years after signing up.
The proposal is still pending in Congress. Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., an AgJOBS supporter, has suggested an emergency proposal to
give some farmworkers provisional legal status without the permanent
status later.
Hempel said legalizing workers now here would give the industry time to
build H-2A housing, without losing employees and crippling food
production. "It gives us a transition," he said.
Unions say AgJOBS would empower workers to demand better wages and
benefits and create better conditions for all laborers, including H-2A
workers.
Goldstein predicted that growers may soon get a better sense of how
serious Chertoff is about cracking down on agribusiness over hiring
undocumented workers. Farms have already been investigated in New York
and other states, he said.
"I do think they're serious."
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