Photo: Joebeth Terriquez / EFE
By: Maria Ortiz Published 12 Sep 2023, 18:02 pm EDT
Temporary foreign agricultural workers who come to the United States to work through the H-2A visa program will receive new protections If a proposal that the Biden administration announced on Tuesday and that increases safety and employment requirements on farms and transparency about how these workers are brought to the United States and how they are compensated for their workis approved.
The Department of Labor announced in a statement Tuesday that new rules for the H-2A visa program will be published in the Federal Register and will be subject to a 60-day comment period before they are approved.
The Department of Labor is already obligated to ensure that the H-2A program does not undermine the wages or working conditions of Americans who take similar jobs. Employers must pay U.S. minimum wages or more, depending on the region, to temporary agricultural workers on these visas.
“This proposed rule is a critical step in our ongoing efforts to strengthen protections for agricultural workers and ensure they have the right to fair and predictable wages, safe working conditions, and freedom from retaliation,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su.
The proposal will reform the H-2A visa program, under which hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly from Mexico, accept seasonal jobs in the United States agricultural industry.
The number of people admitted to that temporary visa program has skyrocketed in recent years because many farmers are struggling to find workers.
What are the proposed protections?
The new rule seeks make it easier for unions to contact and interact with H-2A workers, and protect workers from retaliation if they meet with labor representatives. Workers would be allowed to receive visitors, including those from work groups, in employer-provided housing, for example.
The rule would also require that farmers who employ H-2A workers provide seat belts in pickup trucks which are often used to transport workers over long distances. Transportation accidents are a leading cause of death among farmworkers, according to the department.
Clarifies when a dismissal is “for justified cause.” The proposed rule would clarify that an employer only fires a worker “for cause” when the worker fails to meet prespecified productivity standards or fails to comply with the employer’s policies after the employer applies a system of progressive discipline.
It ensures that wages are known, because the new wage rates will be applicable immediately after their publication in the Federal Register instead of weeks later. This will ensure that farmworkers receive the most up-to-date wages as soon as possible.
And in a move aimed at countering human trafficking, Employers would be required to identify anyone recruiting workers on their behalf in the U.S. or foreign countries and to provide copies of any agreements they have with those recruiters.
Agricultural workers union organizations applaud the new rules
The United Farm Workers (UFW) union and the UFW Foundation have agreed to the changes to the rules of the H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers from other countries and look forward to carefully reviewing them and facilitating feedback from agricultural workers during the process of developing rules.
The organizations acknowledged in a statement that stronger protections are needed for H-2A workers, and the proposed rule takes several steps to improve labor standards for H-2A workers, because The H-2A agricultural guest worker program has long been plagued by abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. The H-2A program leaves workers completely dependent on their employer for housing, transportation, and visa.
“It was time”, said United Farm Workers union president Teresa Romero. “The H-2A program has long facilitated the creation of a de facto underclass of legally vulnerable workers kept in a permanent state of exclusion from U.S. citizenship and labor law. We are hopeful that these proposed rules signal a real commitment by the Biden Administration to begin empowering agricultural workers on H-2A visas to address employer retaliation, unsafe working conditions, and hiring practices. “illegal.”
“We are encouraged to see the DOL proposing new rules for the H-2A program,” said UFW Foundation Executive Director Diana Tellefson Torres. “Time and time again, guest farmworkers are put at risk as employers abuse the system for their own financial gain.
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