New Rules for Farm Workers Come Out

Sam Hananel of the Associated Press is reporting that today, the US Labor Department took steps to reverse rules created under the George W. Bush administration that made it easier for farmers to hire temporary, or guest workers, to pick their crops.

According to Hananel, the regulations “will increase wages and offer greater job safety protection for thousands of foreign farm workers hired each year.” The new rules also require farmers to make a more concerted effort to fill vacancies with domestic workers than exists under current migrant worker labor laws.

As Hananel writes, these proposed changes may not be welcomed news for the nation’s farmers, who “vehemently” opposed changes to the guest worker (H- 2A) proposed last year by the Obama administration. The farmers note that most Americans won’t do the labor-intensive farm work, and the new rules will make it harder and more expensive to hire foreign workers. Meanwhile, labor and immigrant rights groups maintain the previous Bush administration rules lowered wages and made it harder for domestic workers to apply.

On March 15, 2010, the new rules take effect. The rules will increase temporary farm worker wages by roughly a dollar an hour. Additionally, farmers looking to hire temporary workers must first post the available jobs on an electronic job registry to ensure domestic workers have an opportunity to apply for the jobs before temporary H-2A workers are hired. Further, under the new rules state work force agencies must inspect and approve of guest-worker housing before foreign workers can be brought into the country.

When the Obama administration tried to change the rules last year farmers brought a lawsuit to slow the process down. While the new rules do keep some of the previous administration’s streamlining efforts, it is not yet known whether the farmers will bring another lawsuit to prevent these rules from going into effect.

To read the AP article click here.
Posted: 02/11/10