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ASSOCIATED PRESS US seeks tighter rules on foreign farm workers By SAM HANANEL WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is trying again to roll back
Bush administration regulations that made it easier for farmers to hire
temporary foreign farm workers. The agency on Thursday said it is proposing new rules that
would boost wages and increase safeguards for thousands of seasonal
workers brought in each year to help farmers pick their crops. It would
also require that growers make greater efforts to fill those jobs with
American workers. If the rules are adopted, they would largely reverse
regulations finalized shortly before President George W. Bush left
office and return to a framework that had been in effect since 1987. Labor and immigrant rights groups have criticized the Bush
regulations, claiming they would slash farm wages and make it harder for
domestic workers to claim those jobs. The Labor Department briefly suspended the Bush rules earlier
this year, but officials were forced to reinstate them after farm groups
successfully challenged the decision in federal court. "Every worker deserves to be treated and paid fairly," Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis said. "That is especially true of agricultural
workers, who often perform backbreaking work for very low wages." Solis said the new rules would let the Labor Department take a
more active role in protecting farm workers from mistreatment and
keeping domestic workers from being unfairly displaced. Farm growers say the changes to the H-2A guest worker program
will make it more cumbersome and expensive for them to hire foreign
workers for tough field jobs that most Americans don't want. "The Bush rules did go a long way to streamline the process and
make it more feasible," said Jason Resnick, assistant general counsel
for the Western Growers Association in Resnick said growers are likely to take legal action against
the new rules if they are approved after a 30-day comment period. The new rules would return to the old standard for determining
temporary farm wages, resulting in an increase for workers of about
$1.44 an hour. Farmers would also have to submit documentation
certifying that they tried to fill the jobs with American workers. Under
the Bush rules, those documents had to be presented only if there was a
government audit. The proposed rules would require state work force agencies to
inspect temporary worker housing before an employer is approved to bring
in foreign workers — something the Bush rule didn't mandate until after
workers moved in. Labor officials say the new rules do retain some of the efforts
of the Bush administration to streamline paperwork and make the program
more efficient. But they also go further than the 1987 regulations in
boosting worker protections. For the first time, the rules would require posting of farm
jobs through an electronic job registry to make sure domestic workers
get the first shot. And if prevailing wages go up in the middle of a
temporary worker's contract, the grower would have to increase the
worker's wages. |