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THE PACKER – Fresh Talk Blog
January 5, 2012
Bruce Goldstein: First solution is to improve farm wages
I had the chance to chat on Jan. 4 with Bruce Goldstein, executive
director of the Washington, D.C.-based Farmworker Justice.
12:31 p.m. Tom Karst:
Thanks for taking time for this chat. I saw that Farmworker Justice had
some comments on the Georgia Ag Labor report. What was the gist of your
thoughts on that report?
12:32 p.m. Bruce
Goldstein: The Georgia Ag Commissioner’s report did not seek out the
opinions of agricultural workers, who were the subject of the report,
and that concerns us.
12:34 p.m. Karst:
Growers are very frustrated that they cannot find enough legal workers,
whether because of new state laws or the large falsely documented
immigrant work force. In your view, how can American growers find enough
legal workers to harvest their crops?
12:38 p.m. Goldstein:
There are several solutions. First, the report and other studies show
that farmworkers’ wages are very low, and few receive any fringe
benefits such as paid sick leave or health insurance. So the first
solution is to improve wages and working conditions to attract and
retain workers. The second solution in the near term is to use the H-2A
temporary foreign worker program; the report says that 90% of the
surveyed businesses had not used it (though some are not eligible for
it). Despite many employer complaints about it, the wages and other
terms are based on the old Bracero program which was seen as very
abusive toward workers; the growers’ complaints are overblown. Third, we
need immigration reform that allows undocumented farmworkers to earn
legal immigration status and to do that we need to rebuild the
labor-management coalition that developed to persuade Congress.
12:41 p.m. Karst: On
the issue of wages, growers have said that it is difficult to attract
and retain U.S. workers because of the demanding nature of the work.
Isn’t there more than a grain of truth to the notion that Americans
simply aren’t interested in harvesting lettuce or picking oranges?
12:46 p.m. Goldstein:
There are many hard, dirty, dangerous and seasonal jobs in this country,
and in most occupations, the employers recruit and retain workers for
those jobs by offering the economically necessary wage rates according
to the law of supply and demand. Agriculture should be no different. The
Georgia report quotes many employers condemning the work ethic of
Americans and praising the willingness of foreign workers to accept any
job terms. We believe that most Americans -- whether immigrants or
citizens -- have a great work ethic. They need to be compensated fairly
so they can afford the cost of living in the U.S., not the cost of
living in a developing country with no jobs. A “grain of truth” is too
small a justification for serious policy issues.
12:49 p.m. Karst:
Farmworker Justice has been critical of the H-2A program in your report,
“No way to treat a guest” Shouldn’t growers who use the H-2A program to
find a legal work force be championed instead of vilified? Would your
group support making the H-2A program easier to use and capable of
providing more workers for U.S. growers?
12:54 p.m. Goldstein:
Our report, “No Way to Treat a Guest” examines the operation of the H-2A
program. It does not vilify H-2A program users. It does conclude that
U.S. workers who want farm jobs are being discriminated against in favor
of foreign H-2A workers, and that many H-2A guest workers are not
receiving what the law requires. The report makes recommendations to
address those issues. It also recommends major immigration reform so
that the current, highly productive farmworkers who lack authorized
immigration status are given the opportunity to obtain legal immigration
status for themselves and their families. We believe that some of the
H-2A program’s job terms are too weak -- including the wages being too
low, partly because they are based wage surveys that include what
undocumented workers are paid. In the past, Farmworker Justice has
publicly supported and still does support a legislative compromise that
would address many growers’ concerns about the H-2A program while also
providing a path to earn legal immigration status.
12:59 p.m. Karst:
Bruce, thanks for your time. One more question. Taking a broader
view, you mentioned immigration reform. I know that your group has
supported AgJobs in the past. Given the current political climate, what
is your view about the opportunity for comprehensive immigration reform
this year? Is there any way for the ag community and groups like
Farmworker Justice to work on a solution together?
1:02 p.m. Goldstein:
Yes, there continues to be a willingness on the part of Farmworker
Justice and other farm worker advocacy organizations to work with
agricultural employers on a solution. I think some agricultural
employers have taken a defeatist attitude because so many Republican
members of Congress have been unwilling to address immigration issues in
a meaningful and reasonable way. But we have to keep working on it, and
Congressional action won’t happen without our joint efforts to solve
these problems. I don’t know when we will succeed but I know we will not
have a positive solution if we don’t try.
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