Visa change hurts farmworkers, groups say

Farmworker advocacy coalitions are calling on the Department of Labor to retract changes to a seasonal worker visa that they say put American workers at a disadvantage.

The H-2A seasonal agricultural guest worker program allows agricultural employers to hire foreign workers for seasonal jobs if they can show there is a shortage of labor and that the working conditions and wages won't be negatively impacted.

The Department of Labor isn't saying publicly whether it is in the process or if it has already revised its process for issuing the visas, which has long been seen as cumbersome by agribusinesses.

Department spokesman Terry Shawn said only, "we can't comment on any proposed rule changes," and referred the Deseret Morning News to an August statement by the Bush administration on immigration policy. A White House fact sheet from that date says because of "severe labor shortages," the president has directed the Labor Department to review H-2A policy and "institute changes that will provide farmers with an orderly and timely flow of legal workers, while protecting the rights of laborers."

Clarifications for procedures related to the visas are outlined in an advisory issued Nov. 14 by Assistant Secretary Emily Stover DeRocco and released publicly this month by Farmworker Justice, one of 24 advocacy groups that signed a letter calling the policy change an illegal one that took place without allowing for public comment.

"The policies in this memo will enable hundreds of agricultural employers to avoid the need to compete for U.S. workers through improved wages and working conditions," the letter says.

In Utah, 100,000 jobs are tied directly to agriculture, and the industry contributes $4 billion to $5 billion to the economy, said Randy Parker, chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau.

Parker hadn't seen the memo but did say the seasonal guest-worker program needs revamping so that employers can get the help they need. When local labor isn't available, a delay of even a few weeks can be disastrous for businesses such as orchards with narrow harvesting windows, he said.

"We have labor needs that are going unmet," he said. "We have farmers that are in need of workers on Utah dairies right now; we can't fill jobs in the food processing industry. ... Milking cows for four, five or six hours at 3 o'clock in the morning and then again at 6 at night is not a glamorous job."