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Visa changes could bring more foreign workers
For the last three years, Rich Calimer has hired foreign workers under a
national visa program to help plant, trim and harvest fruits and
vegetables at Scenic View Orchards in Sabillasville.
Calimer, who co-owns the orchards, said he advertises locally but has
not attracted native workers to fill positions.
This year, Calimer said he will hire seven workers from Mexico, who will
arrive in March and stay until November.
Proposed changes to the visa program used by Calimer and other Frederick
County farmers may help streamline the hiring process. That would open a
door for employers across the country to bring additional foreign
workers legally into the U.S.
"We couldn't do it without them," Calimer said.
Calimer said he has been frustrated by the bureaucratic inertia that has
caused workers to arrive consistently late -- by about two weeks -- each
year.
He said he believed that if the proposed changes made the program easier
to access, more farmers might use it.
Robert Black, owner of Catoctin Mountain Orchard, said this year is the
17th he's been hiring workers from Mexico, and the third he's been using
the visa program known as H2-A.
Black said three of the seven workers on his farm are on H2-A visas,
while the others have more permanent visas.
The paperwork necessary to complete the H2-A visas is unbelievable,
Black said. Each year, officials say they are going to make it easier
but do not.
"If you don't have every T crossed," Black said, "they kick it back."
He said he would appreciate a streamlined process.
Starting wage rates can also be high, Black said, even for workers new
to an orchard.
The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services said Feb. 6 they would like to change how wages of foreign
agriculture workers using an H2-A visa are determined.
The base pay for H2-A agriculture workers is set by the Agriculture
Department's Farm Labor Survey and varies by state. Within a state, the
pay is the same regardless of what job a worker performs.
However, the Labor Department wants to use the Bureau of Labor
Statistic's Occupational Employment Survey, which would allow officials
to consider what workers do and their skill levels. It would allow
officials to divide the U.S. into more than 530 areas and to pay wages
appropriate to each area.
Salaries in some areas would then decrease, while others would increase,
said Leon R. Sequeira, an assistant secretary for policy at the Labor
Department.
Ensuring workers' safety while providing security measures are other
priorities outlined in the proposed rule.
Bruce Goldstein is the executive director of Farmworker Justice, which
advocates for farmworkers. He said he'd need to look closely at the
proposal to make certain farmworkers would not be hurt by wage changes.
The new regulations, which have a 45-day comment period, would be the
first changes to the H2-A program in 20 years.
Merlin Williams is the state rule services supervisor for the Maryland
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. He said Maryland has
approximately 700 H2-A agriculture workers entering per fiscal year.
Their earnings start at $9.29 per hour.
In Frederick County, about eight farms hire, on average, three or four
H2-A workers, Williams said.
Other costs to employers include filing fees, which can amount to
several hundred dollars, transportation costs for the workers from their
home countries and housing, Williams said.
Williams said he is still evaluating the more than 50 pages of proposed
changes and is not sure of the implications for the H2-A program.
Colby Ferguson is the business development specialist for agriculture at
the Frederick County Office of Economic Development. Ferguson said most
local farmers don't use the program, which Maryland has been
participating in for the last four years.
That's primarily because the two greatest revenue-generating agriculture
industries in Frederick County are dairy and grain, which are not as
labor intensive as the orchard and nursery producers who need H2-A
workers.
It would be nice to have a grace period, Black said, where people could
learn the trade, and then earn higher hourly wages.
Locals seeking employment today have more options, Black said, and not
as many choose to work in the elements.
He has also had bad experiences with some local workers, high
school-aged kids in particular.
By the time mid-August rolls around, his peak season, Black said some
workers in that age group have left because of the heat or to attend
football practice.
"We need hands every day," Black said.
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