Speech #1040203616

At the same time. I certainly dont want to see the creation of a new Bracero Program. In my mind I set some simple goals for looking at the H2A Program: First. we have to make sure that the U.S. agriculture industry is internationally competitive. and second. we have to make sure that American farmworkers are not displaced by foreign workers and that they have access to good jobs. where they can earn a fair days wage for a fair days work. With these goals in mind. I think that we can design a reasonable system to meet labor shortages. if and when they occur. It is an understatement to say that the issue of the H2A Program for bringing in temporary guest workers is polarized. Labor unions and advocates for farmworkers feel that the H2A Program is barely a notch above the old. abusive Bracero Program. Growers feel that far from giving them access to cheap labor. the H2A Program is extraordinarily costly and almost totally unusable and that the Department of Labor is openly hostile to their interests. Given the passions surrounding this issue. I think that its important that we begin any process of redesigning this program by bringing in an independent. outside agency to take a look at H2A to try to sift out what is actually happening. and what can be done to make this program an effective safety valve. if indeed. after immigration reform legislation passes. there ends up being a shortage of American workers who are able and willing to take temporary. agricultural jobs. I and my cosponsors. along with Senator KENNEDY and Senator SIMPSON. have agreed that it Is important for the GAO to look at four issues: First. that able and willing American workers are efficiently matched up with employers seeking labor. I have heard criticism of the* H2A Program from both the growers and from farmworker advocates. According to the testimony by John R. Hancock. a former Department of Labor employee. before the House Committee on Agriculture December 14. 1995. Only about 1015 percent of the job openings available with H2A employers have been referred by the Employment Service In recent years. and the number of such workers who stay on the job to complete the total contract period has been minimal. Similarly. a briefing book sent to me from the Farmworkers Justice Fund cited the Commission on Agricultural Workers finding that "the supply of workers is not yet coordinated well enough with the demand for workers." So. it seems that we all can agree that we seriously need to evaluate how we match up workers with employers who are experiencing labor shortages. Second. if and when there is a shortage of American workers willing to do the necessary temporary. agricultural labor. there will be a straightforward program to address this shortage with temporary foreign workers. I have been assured that across the country there are hundreds of thousands of migrant farmworkers. ready. willing and able to work. If there is no such shortage. then clearly there is no need for growers to use the H2A Program. However. growers in Oregon and across the country are afraid that if this legislation is effective in cracking down on false documents and cracking down on people who come across the border. then they will see their work force decline sharply. Now as far as I can tell. no one can say for certain how many illegal immigrants there are in this country and how many are part of the migrant labor work force. But I know from visiting with folks in Oregon. that there is nothing that makes a farmer lose more sleep at night than worrying about his or her fruit. or berries. or vegetables. rotting in the field because there Is no one there to pick it. I know that many say that a farmer could get as much labor as he wanted if the wage was high enough.