Speech #1090134024

Officials in the Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics Service readily admit that the wage survey used for adverse effect wage rate was never designed to set specific wages--only to describe them in general. As such. the National Agricultural Statistics Services survey creates an artificial. multistate wage floorone that significantly increases annually. regardless of the economy. the agricultural market. and competitive factors within a product line or local area. Supporters of maintaining an adverse effect wage rate for H2A workers will tell you that it is necessary to prevent the presence of foreign workers from adversely affecting the wage rates of U.S. farm workers. These are generally the same folks who advocate for greater protections for farm workers. So you can imagine my surprise when reading this bill when I found that there is no mandated wage floor for those workers who are now illegal working in agriculture once they get on a blue card or once they adjust to permanent resident statusassuming they stay in agriculture. So while a farmer who utilizes H2A workers in an occupation will have to pay all workers in that occupation the adverse effect wage rate. those farmers who have been using an illegal workforce and are allowed to continue to use that same workforce. which is legalized through this bill. will only be bound by the applicable minimum wage. This does not make the least bit of sense. To give you some examples: a farmer who uses the H2A program in Oklahoma will have to pay his workers $8.32 per hour. while a farmer in the same place who uses a newly legalized blue card worker will have to pay only $5.15 per hour to his employees. In Louisiana. an H2A employer will have to pay $7.58 an hour to his workers while a farmer who employs blue card workers will only have to pay $5.15 per hour. In Maryland. an H2A employer must pay $8.95 an hour while a blue card employer only has to pay $5.15 an hour. In Nebraska. an H2A employer must pay $9.23 an hour while an employer of legalized blue card workers must pay only $5.15 an hour. In Arkansas. H2A employers must pay $7.58 an hour to their workers. while those who continue to use the previously illegal workforce pay only $5.15 an hour. In Arizona. H2A employers must pay $8.00 an hour while blue card employers pay only $5.15 an hour for the same work. In Kansas. H2A employers will have to pay $9.23 an hour. while employers of blue card workers must pay only $5.15 an hour. In Montana. H2A employers must pay $8.47 an hour while blue card employers must pay $5.15 per hour. You might be askingwell what about those states that have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage? The adverse effect wage rate is still higherfor example. an H2A employer in New York will have to pay his workers $9.16 an hour while an employer who uses blue card workers will only have to pay $6.75 an hour. And in Connecticut. an H2A employer will be mandated to pay $9.16 an hour while the farmer who uses blue card workers will pay $7.40 an hour. This is not fair to the farmers and it is not fair to the workers. This bill systematically rewards lawbreakers and punishes those who have. with some difficulty. been obeying the laws on the books today. This amendment is not just about parity. though I would argue strongly that it is neededfor not only will H2A employers be mandated to pay higher wages than their counterparts who use the newly legalized workforce. H2A employers will also continue to be responsible for providing to their employees free housing and utilities. reimbursement of transportation costs. and payment of visa. consular. and border crossing fees. This amendment is about what Is right for agriculture. both for the farmer as well as the migrant worker. We know from past experience that once farm workers are legalized through an amnesty. they leave farm work. This means that the farmers who use an illegal workforce today and plan to legalize their workers with the blue card program in this bill will be faced with the reality that the H2A program will be the only avenue for legal workers when they cannot find others to do the jobs they need in the near future. The failure of the H2A program in the past to meet the needs of agriculture across the nation has been based. in part. on provisions such as the adverse effect wage rate. H2A employers simply cant compete with the illegal workforce and they wont be able to compete with employers of blue card workers. This amendment will require that all workers in agriculture be paid the higher of the applicable minimum wage and the prevailing wage rate. as determined by the Department of Labor. This will allow the mandated wages to reflect geographic location. occupation. and skill level. unlike under current law and in this bill. In addition. it will provide muchneeded additional worker protections to those workers who adjust status under this bill by ensuring that they are guaranteed the same wage as an H2A worker in the same occupation. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. Lets put parity in agriculture in a temporary worker program that has been on the books for decades and will workif we can streamline it. if we can make it fairer for the employer. more attractive to the employer to use. and at the same time fair to the employee.