The Labor Debate
It is a no-brainer that labor and immigration reform is much needed in the U.S., but given the current economic climate, how bad is the labor situation for growers?
As everyone knows, AgJOBS was reintroduced in Congress in May. Known as the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act, AgJOBS is a two-part bill that would allow workers to qualify for temporary resident status if they can prove they were employed in U.S. agriculture during the past two years. The second part restructures and reforms the present H-2A temporary ag worker program.
Possible Roadblock
It is a no-brainer that labor and immigration reform is much needed in the U.S., but given the current economic climate, how bad is the labor situation for growers? Thanks to the recession and the sluggish construction and housing markets, some of the temporary workers who would be lured away from ag jobs to the construction market are staying in ag. As none of us has a crystal ball, we don’t know exactly how long we will be in this economic crunch. We will have to wait and see.
One California grower told us, for him, the labor situation isn’t too bad right now. AVG recently interviewed Imperial Valley grower Jon Vessey of Vessey and Company for an article on harvesting trends. (See AVG June 2009, page 10.) Vessey has changed his tune on labor from two years ago. Because of the current economic climate and lack of construction jobs this year, he had the labor he needed to harvest his 900-acre cabbage field. For now, he has put his plans to automate harvesting of his cabbage crop on hold.
Will the reintroduction of this legislation become overshadowed by what some may see as a lack of urgency? As we all know, the pendulum will swing in the other direction again and the economy hopefully will improve sooner rather than later. The issue of labor won’t go away and growers will again be faced with shortages if nothing is done to rectify the problem.
New York Issue
On a related topic, legislation was passed last month in the New York State Assembly that would provide farmworkers with overtime pay
and unemployment insurance benefits — among other things.
At press time, the legislation, called the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, was being presented to the New York Senate. On paper, the bill may sound good for the workers, but in reality, for the vegetable and fruit growers in that state, it is not good at all.
In fact, some in the state have said passage of the bill would be devastating and numerous farming operations, particularly those in upstate New York, would go under. Picking crops isn’t a 9 to 5 job and it appears those making the laws do not understand that, except for the ones who opposed the legislation.
After the bill passed the Assembly, Assemblyman Marc Butler, R-Newport, told the Leader Herald, in Gloversville, NY, that both the bill and the vote “show a clear lack of understanding and sensitivity to the position of upstate farmers.”
To bring the ramifications of the bill into perspective, the New York Farm Bureau put a dollar figure on its cost to growers: $200 million a year. The
passage of the bill would mean growers would have to restrict seasonal workers to 40 hours a week. Has anyone heard of a 40-hour work week on a farm? It doesn’t translate.
U.S. lawmakers need to fully understand that the agricultural industry doesn’t fit into a traditional business mold. Until they do, these issues won’t go away.
Rosemary Gordon is editor of American Vegetable Grower, a Meister Media Worldwide publication.
Comments (2)
(Thu Dec 22 02:29:25 2011)
With double digit unemployment coming you would think we could find some Americans to work instead of getting them from south of the border. How about we have our lobbyists talk to the politicians about offering some sort of tax incentives if a farmer hires Americans? Maybe let the person earn up to a certain level, say $5000 before having to take any deductions out. The farmers could interface with NY ONE STOP to find all these unemployed people. Yes there will be a learning curve cause you would be using an American who isn't familiar with the operation but there was a learning curve when the farmer first hired the Mexican, Jamaican, Chilean, Honduran,Canadian, etc. We hear of all these people who are losing there homes because they have no job well it seems like we could just hire them and not need AgJOBS. Let's think about it.
(Mon Sep 26 18:43:22 2011)
With double digit unemployment coming you would think we could find some Americans to work instead of getting them from south of the border. How about we have our lobbyists talk to the politicians about offering some sort of tax incentives if a farmer hires Americans? Maybe let the person earn up to a certain level, say $5000 before having to take any deductions out. The farmers could interface with NY ONE STOP to find all these unemployed people. Yes there will be a learning curve cause you would be using an American who isn't familiar with the operation but there was a learning curve when the farmer first hired the Mexican, Jamaican, Chilean, Honduran,Canadian, etc. We hear of all these people who are losing there homes because they have no job well it seems like we could just hire them and not need AgJOBS. Let's think about it.
