http://www.americanfarm.com/growtopstory3.01.2006b.html

Nurseryman: Immigration reform overdue

3.01.06

By CAROL KINSLEY

The issue of immigration and guest-worker reform is likely to be considered in the U.S. Senate in March. In December 2005, the House passed H.R. 4437, an “enforcement only” bill that would prohibit the hiring of illegal migrant workers and does nothing to address the issue of access to a legal workforce. Craig Regelbrugge, senior director of government relations at American Nursery and Landscape Association, said H.R. 4437 “would impose new burdens, fines and penalties on employers. It would do nothing to provide labor-intensive agriculture access to a legal and stable work force.”

Agriculture, in particular, would be crippled by this bill. According to the American Farm Bureau, failure to include comprehensive guest-worker provisions in any new or reformed immigration law could cause up to $9 billion annually in overall losses to the U.S. agriculture industry and losses of up to $5 billion annually in net farm income. The fruit and vegetable sector as it now exists would disappear. Up to one-third of producers – who are especially dependent on hired labor – would no longer be able to compete. Instead of stocking produce grown and harvested in the United States, America’s grocers would increasingly fill their shelves with foreign-grown produce, resulting in billions of dollars being sent overseas.
Bernie Kohl of Angelica Nurseries Inc. in Kennedyville, Md., is a member of the National Council of Agricultural Employers which is working to get legislation put together in the Senate that would provide a workable system to get the labor that agriculture needs legally.

“If AgJOBS would go through, we’d be happy,” he said. AgJOBS, the “Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act,” is back in both houses of Congress this year (S. 359 and H.R. 884) after failing to pass the Senate last year by a mere seven votes. The bill had been attached to another bill in hopes of getting it passed, but that tactic failed.
AgJOBS would reform the existing H2A agricultural guest worker program used by nursery growers by making it simpler and more affordable for businesses to use. AgJOBS would allow experienced and trusted ag workers, who lack proper immigration status, to continue working and stay in the United States under a temporary legal status. This bill is not promoting amnesty, which is outright forgiveness of illegal status. Instead, it would provide an opportunity for these workers to earn permanent legal status by staying in agriculture jobs.

“Most people I talk to want comprehensive reform - for all immigrants,” Kohl said. “Any kind of new reform will have to include agriculture. if AgJOBS is added as a companion bill to this, or some similar kind of reform, it might solve the problem.”

Last year, Sen. Barbara Mikulski from Maryland, introduced a bill for H2B, non ag workers. Mikulski’s “Save the Summer” legislation exempted returning H2B workers from counting towards the federally mandated limit of 66,000 service guest workers allowed in the United States annually. This legislation was critical because the 66,000 cap had been reached months before the end of the fiscal year, and well before the start of the planting season. Not only was the landscape industry affected, but also the hotel, restaurant and seafood packing industries. Advocates from all of these industries joined together and lobbied for change. This legislation passed, but it expires in September 2006.

On Feb.14, 2006, the “Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2006” was introduced in both the Senate and House. Mikulski introduced the bill, S 2284; Sen. Sarbanes is a co-sponsor. On the House side, Representative Bass from New Hampshire introduced the bill, HR 4740. The bill again does not fix the problem but extends the S.O.S. legislation by three years, allowing time for immigration reform.

“H2B workers are used in landscaping, which affects our customers, but does not help us,” Kohl continued. “We use H2A. In the spring, we have about 130 H2A workers. There is no quota, no cap. The biggest problem with the current H2A program with people using it, is the wage rate and way they come up with that. It’s spiraling upward, out of control, so it becomes unaffordable to stay in the program.

“There are other problems: When we recruit workers, the job must go through job service - nationwide. In reform, we’re talking about making it regional. We pay transportation costs for people who come to take the job order. We must take a domestic worker over an immigrant worker.
“The problem is, domestic workers can continue to come here up to the time the contract is half over. For example, we have a four-month contract, and need workers the first of March. If the jobs are not filled by then we get Mexicans and provide them with housing. But if someone comes later from anywhere in the United States, we have to take them — either come up with a bed for them to sleep in or send back the Mexicans who came when needed. There is the possibility for a lot of flux in the work force.

“The premise is to protect domestic worker jobs, but the system gets abused. If someone wants free travel to this location, he comes and takes the job and after we pay transportation, he can walk out. There is a dispute over when travel is reimbursed. The H2A contract says at 50 percent of the contract; some suits say in the first week.”

H.R. 4427 requires mandatory electronic verification of the authorization to work in this country. Kohl said Angelica Nurseries has participated in INS electronic verification for some time. “The year before we went with H2A, we had such a problem with that, to keep a workforce of 120 workers, we processed from March to the end of june, 800 workers. We’d hire, then find out they were not authorized to work. We get notified they’re not legal. If they don’t act and we continue to employ, then we’re in violation. They had 30 days to correct (their legal status), so they’d leave on the 28th day. That forced us into H2A.

“As an employer, I am not against mandatory verification as long as it comes with a program that lets you get the workers you need. I think mandatory verification is going to be part of whatever happens.

“The problem is getting people here legally. H2A is very expensive, very cumbersome. There are a lot of hoops to jump through. If you have a two-week window and get held up, people may not arrive until the crop is spoiled. A nursery is not as critical, but a week in the busiest time of year can be what makes or breaks a company in agriculture.”

Kohl described the ideal situation as a system that uses prevailing wage rate and a streamlined application process. Under the current system, he said, the same people can come back. “When we train them, we like to see them return.” Kohl added the mandatory recruiting should be regional rather than national.

Housing is another problem, particularly with smaller growers who have no option to give a housing allowance. “That means you have to have the housing yourself, which can be very expensive for a two-week period for a dozen workers. There are ways to put people up in a hotel, but there are a lot of inspections — someone in state government has to look at your situation and say there is no available housing and that you can put in them in a hotel.

“Once in H2A, you are required be part of their living situation. It’s highly inspected.”

The stories one hears of multiple people living in one apartment, perhaps sleeping in shifts are those who are here illegally, Kohl said. They are afraid to speak up about the problems in their society of workers.
As Congress considers reform, Kohl is hoping that everything will go all right at the border this spring. If so, his work force this year will be taken care of.