guest workers

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said he’s not waiting around for Congress to reform the H-2A farm guest worker program but is starting his department’s own program.  During February's Ag Outlook Forum, the USDA head said while he’s hopeful that Republicans and Democrats in Congress will try to address the systemic challenges that growers and farm workers face, he said he’s committed to doing everything h

On Wednesday, Dan Newhouse, Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, joined other lawmakers on the steps of the U.S. capital, calling for “real, commonsense immigration reform”. Newhouse threw his support behind Florida Representative María Elvira Salazar’s Dignity Proposal. Newhouse said the prop ...

Last week, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue spoke positively about changes the Department of Labor will make to modernize the H-2A process.  The Labor Department published a final, common-sense rule that becomes effective October 21, and eliminates the requirement to advertise job openings in local newspapers.  In...

Legislation floating in the Washington Legislature looks to establish more oversight for the H-2A program.  The bill would create an office of compliance for the guest worker program, and require employers to pay a fee for worker applications.  Th...

According to NASS, Ag workers hired in October slipped 7%, while wage rates increased 8%.  Roughly 784,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators nationally during the 2nd week of October, which is off from the same time period a year earlier.  Th...

Mexican farmworkers who claimed they were blacklisted after protesting labor conditions will get their jobs back and receive over $275,000 under a settlement made public recently.  In September 2017, the 18 workers walked off their harvest jobs with Larson Fruit in Grant County after they made complaints ranging from unsafe working conditions to a lack of medical attention to a scarcity of toilet

The Employment Security Department has proposed a program in which Washington farmer would pay additional fees for using foreign workers.  The ESD said the additional funds would be used to beef up oversight of the H2A program.  It’s estimated that Washington farmers will hire roughly 30,000 foreign workers in 2018.   Accord...

The minimum wage for H-2A guest workers is likely to rise in several states during 2018.  NASS surveys the prevailing wages of field and livestock workers in different regions across the country, which are typically adopted by the U.S. Depart...

Farm labor issues have plagued many throughout the industry and the future of getting workers onto fields and farms is murky.   Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue said he’s optimistic and understands how important this issue is to producers.   “...