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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The level of farmworker wages continues to vex the ag industry and farmworker representatives, who say the way they are calculated results in wages being either too low or too high.
Some 16 Republican senators are calling on congressional leaders to move legislation that would freeze the adverse effect wage rate for H-2A workers at 2023 levels.
A federal heat standard that would give breaks to farmworkers so they can cool down when temperatures reach “heightened levels” is among recommendations for Congress advanced by a bipartisan working group of House Agriculture Committee members tasked with examining ways to address ag’s labor shortage.
The Department of Labor is proposing to add additional layers of protection and more timely pay increases for foreign workers enrolled in the temporary H-2A visa program.
As a result of the H-2A Department of Labor’s rising wage floor, U.S. fruit and vegetable growers find themselves again appealing for a bipartisan solution to the agricultural workforce shortage and temporary fix for the wage rate hikes.
Farms may be required to pay higher wages to some foreign workers under changes the Labor Department has finalized in the way that H-2A minimum pay rates are calculated.
The produce industry is pointing to the release of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey the day before Thanksgiving as a reason for passing farm workforce legislation.
