The National Council of Agricultural Employers said it has “grave concern” over the publication of a new wage rule for use in the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program.
The Department of Labor regulation, which started its rule-making journey in July 2019, was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 28. The final rule is effective March 30.
In a news release, the NCAE said the new regulation would not only continue the Department of Labor’s historic misuse of the USDA’s Farm Labor Survey to manufacture wage rates in the H-2A program disconnected from the market for agricultural labor in the U.S., but it would also inject additional new wage rates into the program similarly disconnected from agriculture to compensate some workers for routine on-farm chores.
The net effect of this new wage rule will push more of America’s food production offshore to foreign competition, making American families even more dependent on foreign countries for food, NCAE said in the release.
Today, about 60% of the fresh fruit and more than 35% of the fresh vegetables consumed in the U.S. are produced offshore, the group said in the release.
“The Department of Labor’s new wage rule is a disaster for American consumers and the farm and ranch families who toil every day to deliver bounty harvested from their legacy operations,” Michael Marsh, NCAE president and CEO, said in the release. “The Department is required by statute to establish wage rates under the H-2A Program that will not adversely [affect] the wages and working conditions of domestic workers similarly employed. This rule seeks to do that by throwing U.S. farm and ranch families under the bus!”
The NCAE has repeatedly petitioned secretaries of the Department of Labor to hold hearings on the economics of this regulatory scheme, but those petitions to the American government have been ignored, the release said. The NCAE said the USDA has previously acknowledged that the Farm Labor Survey was not designed to be used as a source of wage rates for a guest worker program.
“With this new rule, American consumers can be confident in one thing, they will be more likely to find tomatoes in their grocery store grown in Mexico, than those grown in Florida, California, or Michigan,” Marsh said in the release. “Similarly, consumers can count on finding blueberries, apples, and strawberries produced in Canada, but few selections grown in Georgia, New York, or Washington. A country forced to rely on others for its sustenance has forfeited a key element of its national security. America expects and deserves better than this!”
In the final rule, the Department of Labor discounted concerns about use of the USDA’s Farm Labor Survey to help determine H-2A wage rates.
“In response to commenters’ concerns that the use of the FLS to determine the [adverse effect wage rate] for H-2A job opportunities in the field and livestock workers (combined) occupational group will result in operational and labor supply issues for employers who choose to participate in the H-2A program, the Department reiterates that, with the exception of brief periods, it has used FLS data to establish the AEWR for such field and livestock job opportunities since 1987,” the final rule said. “While the Department is sensitive to the concerns raised, continuing to use FLS data will not introduce new operational or labor supply issues.”
The NCAE said in the release that it is working with legal counsel, economists and members of Congress to determine options and next steps forward.
