Speech #1100083238

Unfortunately. the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor have proposed regulations that. if implemented. could have a significant negative impact In terms of lowering wages and working conditions for American workers. Specifically. the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor have proposed regulations that would eliminate the labor certification process and replace it with a labor attestation process. State workforce agencies and the Department of Labor as a whole would no longer be involved in certifying that employers applying for H2B visas are not displacing American workers or adversely affecting the wages or working conditions of U.S. workers. The proposed regulations. for the most part. would only require employers to attestto attestto the Department of Homeland Security that they are following the law. All they have to do is say: I am following the law. Trust us. In other words. the Federal Government would take employers at their word that they are complying with the law. with little. if any. oversight. Among other things. the proposed regulations fall to ensure H2B visa work is temporary in nature. H2B work is supposed to be temporary. The proposed regulations fail to ensure that no qualified American worker Is available for H2B positions. In other words. the employer is supposed to go out and make sure there are not American workers available for that position. The proposed regulations fail to require that H2B employers do not adversely affect U.S. wages and working conditions. all of which are required by current law. In other words. the law says an employer cannot pay low wages which have the impact of lowering wages for all workers in that area. Now. let me very briefly read to my colleagues what the AFLCIO has written about these regulations: The proposed regulations would significantly weaken the ability of the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security to meet the statutory requirements of the H2B program as established by Congress and would establish a new regulatory system that would be arbitrary and capriclous. Current administrative procedures have so far failed to adequately protect H2B workers. domestic workers. and the domestic labor market. The proposed regulations. rather than addressing and remedying these fundamental flaws in current procedures. would only further undermine the administrations ability to ensure the H2B program operates in full compliance with the law and in a rational manner. The proposed regulations are not only unacceptable to the AFLCIO and to worker and immigrant advocates as a matter of public policyif enacted. they would also constitute an unjustified and unauthorized derogation from the administrations responsibilities under the law. In addition. according to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center entitled "Close to Slavery." H2B workers are routinely cheated out of wages. forced to mortgage their futures to obtain low wage. temporary jobs. held virtually captive by employers or labor brokers who seize their documents. forced to live in squalid conditions. and denied medical benefits for onthejob injuries. The amendment I am offering today would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from using any of the funds in this act to implement these proposed regulations. Given the serious abuses of the H2B program by many employers documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. and the strong opposition of working people from all over this country. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this amendment. We have a bad situation now.