DOL wants to ease rules for recruiting ag workers

WASHINGTON (AP) —Agriculture employers won’t have to cast a wide net in recruiting temporary workers under a rules change proposed by the Labor Department.

The agency quietly proposed last week that employers no longer be required to place ads for available agricultural jobs with print and broadcast media outside of where they plan to use the workers.

Advocates for farm workers say the change violates a 1986 federal law that requires employers to look for U.S. workers in designated multistate regions before they resort to hiring foreign workers.

Such a move could hurt farm workers who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice Fund Inc.

“The Department of Labor is now saying the employers need not recruit beyond the local area. It will deprive U.S. farmworkers of jobs that they want and that they need,â€