We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
A federal judge is blocking the Trump administration from carrying out changes to the H-2A minimum wage rates that would hold down annual pay increases.
Now that a COVID-19 vaccine could be on the horizon, the food and restaurant industry is appealing to the government to prioritize inoculating their workers.
Farms that use H-2A workers will be allowed to pay them significantly lower wages under a sweeping overhaul of the program’s wage regulations announced by the Labor Department on Monday.
USDA’s decision to stop collecting farmworker wage information using the Agricultural Labor Survey will significantly reduce income for those workers, United Farm Workers said in a lawsuit that seeks to maintain the survey.
House Democrats are about to attempt something that Washington hasn’t been done in over three decades: Enact immigration reforms that would give farmers better access to foreign workers while offering legal status to their existing employees.
A bipartisan farm labor reform bill released Wednesday would expand the H-2A program to year-round workers and provide farms relief on wage rates, while offering legal status to existing agricultural workers who are undocumented.
Industry groups say the Trump administration's plan to make the H-2A farmworker visa program easier for growers to use would instead drive up their labor costs and create new wage disparities.
The Senate is expected to clear a stopgap spending bill this week that will keep the government operating and trade-aid payments flowing to farmers after the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
The Department of Labor will no longer require agricultural producers to place advertisements for H-2A jobs in print newspapers, in a move designed to boost recruiting for workers and save employers money.
A sweeping proposed overhaul of the H-2A farm labor program would have varying impacts on worker wages, while cutting farmers’ transportation expenses and reducing the number of applications farms have to file to import employees.