Changes make guest-worker program more costly for employers
— -- Just a few months after Alabama's anti-illegal immigration law went into effect, some industries may soon be priced out of a legal guest-worker program.
A change by the U.S. Department of Labor to the federal H-2B program will force employers who use the program to get temporary, seasonal workers to pay higher hourly wages -- more than 50% more in some cases.
Exact fees vary depending on the industry and county, but the result may be the same.
"The changes that are proposed virtually make the program unusable," said Larry Fidel, president of the Alabama Restaurant Association.
The biggest wage increase may be in the forestry industry, which uses the H-2B program to hire seasonal workers to do reforesting work.
"Based on what we've seen, our planting cost is going to increase 50 to 60%," said Jim King, vice president of natural resources for the Westervelt Co., which manages about 500,000 acres of forest land in the Southeastern U.S.
Westervelt uses contractors with H-2B employees to plant trees. King said that, currently, the hourly wage ranges from $7.25 to $8.37. Under the Labor Department increase, it will vary from $13.06 to $21.16.
"We are, quite frankly, having a very difficult time figuring out how they're coming up with this (formula)," King said
Protecting U.S. workers
The Department of Labor approved the changes in January, but challenges have delayed the implementation until the end of this month.
"The Department of Labor's primary responsibility in administering portions of the H-2B program are to ensure that businesses have access to the temporary workers they say they need, without adversely impacting U.S. workers," Jane Oates, assistant secretary for Employment and Training Administration, said in a written statement.
"The proposed improvements to the H-2B program focus on enhancing employee recruitment efforts for U.S. workers and strengthening the necessary protections for foreign workers brought here under this temporary program. Both help to ensure the Department's mandate from Congress that U.S. workers not be adversely affected by the H-2B program."
The number of H-2B visas issued each year is capped at 66,000. And the number of requests is on the decline, officials say. There was a 48% decrease overall in the number of H-2B temporary program positions requested in fiscal year 2010 compared with fiscal year 2009, and a 39% decrease in the number of positions certified over the previous fiscal year.
But as more states toughen their immigration laws, such as Alabama did this year, H-2B will become more important, some say.
"With new immigration laws being passed, I think it is even more important that we have a legal work program that works," said Angelo Amador, vice president of labor and workforce policy for the National Restaurant Association. The association is opposed to the legislation -- and it's not alone.
Legislative solution
In September, a bipartisan group of nearly 50 U.S. senators and representatives sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, urging the department to rescind the wage rule.
