Latest News From Labor

As part of its extensive growth strategy, T&G Global today announced it is recruiting 150 permanent positions across its apple operations. 

Farmers, dreamers and business owners from across the Midwest will join the American Business Immigration Coalition for a virtual event called Expanding the Midwest’s Workforce Through Commonsense Immigration Reform.

Don’t put off immigration reform any longer.

In “Farm Fresh,” a series of videos released today on YouTube by Western Growers, we celebrate the extraordinary skills and ingenuity of the farmers and farmworkers who work to bring food to America’s tables.

Heat and extreme drought are causing orchards and farm workers to change their schedule in order to beat the heat. NOAA says last month was officially the hottest June on record, as heat continues to blast the West.

A new survey by the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile (Fedefruta) indicates more than half of fruit producers have workers shortages of between 50% and 70%.

Though the produce life is never without its problems, operators have had more to worry about after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Equitable Food Initiative, the workforce development and certification organization, announced that the Walmart Foundation has awarded it a new one-year grant of $700,000.

Some mushrooms are missing, and it’s the labor shortage’s fault.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in a California case involving labor unions and property rights could affect the entire nation’s agriculture employers and employees.

The National Council of Agricultural Employers announced today that the Council’s ongoing collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control has resulted in another opportunity to protect farmworkers from COVID-19.

The National Potato Council (NPC) today participated in an agriculture industry roundtable discussion with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

United Fresh's Reimagine Conversations panelists share these creative strategies in recruiting, onboarding and retaining post-harvest workers in several different sectors of the produce industry.

Nearly 300 agricultural organizations called on U.S. Senate leaders to “develop and pass” legislation addressing agricultural labor reform.

Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers has teamed with CDFA Secretary Karen Ross to launch a statewide initiative to cultivate a farm workforce that can handling advancing technology.

The National Grocers Association has sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging his administration to advance policies that encourage unemployed Americans to seek work.

No one saw COVID-19 coming, and the disruptions it has created in the produce industry were profound.

Has the time finally arrived for immigration reform?

With an online survey, The Packer is gathering input on labor conditions produce grower-shippers are experiencing.

Washington state agricultural workers will start receiving overtime pay in 2022 and will have a 40-hour workweek by 2024.

With recent reports of delays in the processing of H-2A workers and continuing concerns about farm labor shortages, The Packer seeking input on labor conditions from industry suppliers.

The House of Representatives on March 18 passed H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act by a 247-174 vote.

You’ve got more than enough on your plate, but you know you need good people to make your business work.

One woman stands out in Carolyn Fairman’s memory of Cierto’s early days.

The Equitable Food Initiative is celebrating National Farmworker Awareness Week by offering growers and other stakeholders a free communications toolkit.

As Central California vegetable growers wait for harvest to increase seasonally, the biggest issue at hand is getting their workers vaccinated as they enter year two of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fresh produce grower groups and industry associations are praising the reintroduction of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, H.R. 1537.

Tom Karst, Ashley Nickle and Amy Sowder discuss some of the top stories of the week, from immigration reform to PBH's new State of the Plate report to new numbers on satisfaction with online grocery shopping.

Another Congress, another attempt at immigration reform.

H-2A wages will increase by 4.5% in 2021.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., have introduced the bicameral U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021.

While political and economic reverberations of the pandemic will rattle the globe for decades to come, how successfully humanity comes out of this pandemic will affect not just health of populations and economies.

About 1,400 workers from the Teamsters Local 202 labor union ended their strike at Hunts Point Produce Market, Bronx, N.Y., after almost a week, with an agreement on their wage increase.

President Joe Biden introduced ambitious immigration reform legislation on his first day in office that seeks to legalize millions of undocumented workers.

Research links some of the losses that fruit and vegetable growers suffered because of COVID-19 pandemic to labor shortages caused by the number of infections among farmworkers.

President Joe Biden plans to introduce ambitious immigration reform legislation on his first day in office that seeks to legalize millions of undocumented workers.

The Department of Labor has published a long-expected final rule that the agency said will modernize the H-2A guest agricultural worker program.

Bronx, N.Y.-based Hunts Point Produce Market labor union workers are on strike over a wage dispute.

Organic produce trade organizations seem optimistic about the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden and his appointment of Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture.

Tacoma, Wash.-based Cierto, a recruiter of H-2A workers for U.S. growers, has received an $800,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation.

The status of the 2021 H-2A program wage rates is up in the air again.

The expensive commitment to automate farm labor is gaining momentum with the COVID-19 pandemic, Phil Martin says.

Although 2020 has been a year like no other, Equitable Food Initiative continued to grow and prove its unique value to the fresh produce industry.

On, off and on again.

The fight continues over wage rates in the Department of Labor’s H-2A agricultural guest worker program.

United Fresh and allied food and agricultural organizations are urging both President Trump and President-elect Biden to provide priority access to COVID-19 vaccines as they become available.

Nature Fresh Farms has released a twenty-two-minute documentary offering an inside look at their operations during the Covid-19 outbreak centering around the experiences of their guest workers.

The fall crop season is underway in Florida and over the next few months, an increase in the farm worker population will help plant, maintain, and harvest our crops in the Sunshine State.

UPDATED: Stabilizing labor costs and adding more predictability, the Department of Labor’s H-2A wage rule is winning industry support.

In a decision praised by farmworker advocates, a U.S. District Court has issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the USDA's decision in September to suspend the annual Farm Labor Survey.