WPSD – TV (Paducah, Kentucky)

June 10, 2009

Migrant Worker Changes Mean Unequal Pay For Some

Calloway County, KY- Although several migrant workers do the same work every day, they might not be making the same amount of money per hour. It's one thing Melissa Green says does not sit well with everyone. 

"It causes turmoil between workers and farmers and it's a problem," said Green.

She writes contracts between farmers and the labor department and says the new change is causing quite and uproar in the farming community.

"Nurseries and some of the folks that have greenhouse workers in January and February, are the people that are going to be affected the most," adds Green.

It's an issue that is easier to understand on a calendar because the amount farmers have to pay depends on when they signed their contracts.

On January 17th of this year, The Labor Department changed hourly pay for migrant workers. Until that point, workers were being paid around nine dollars per hour. Under new rules, contracts signed after the 17th required workers to be paid around two dollars less. Contracts that were signed before January 17 were subject to a new adverse effect wage rate of more than nine dollars. That stayed the same for until May 29th.

At the end of May, the pay cut was suspended and some farmers were forced to increase wages to more than 9 dollars an hour. The pay cut suspension meant farmers had to pay money in the middle of the year they hadn't budgeted for. 

"We have a lot of farmers with two contracts if they bring in workers early in the year and a second group of workers later," Green added.

In some cases, those two different groups of workers are getting paid different wages for the exact same job. It's a concern the Department of Labor is looking into before a new plan is announced. One that hopefully gets workers and farmers on the same page.