Bush’s Assault on Farmworkers

The Bush Administration is, apparently, dead set on leaving with a legacy of neglect and hatred for working people and immigrants. I guess that should be of no surprise to anyone, really. From The Sanctuary:

Before leaving office, the Bush Administration is leaving one parting “gift” to our nation’s farmworkers. In midnight regulation changes to the nation’s agricultural guestworker program he will slash wages and reduce worker protections for those who harvest our crops.

The changes, proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were revealed on the DOL website late Monday evening but have not been officially published in the Federal Register yet.

The H-2A program is a temporary agricultural guestworker program that permits employers to apply for permission to hire foreign labor for jobs lasting ten months or less. To bring in H-2A guestworkers, employers must show that they cannot find U.S. workers who want the jobs.

These will be the most far-reaching changes in the laws regulating agricultural guestworker programs since 1942. They will return us to an era of agricultural labor exploitation that many thought ended decades ago.

The changes cut wage rates and wage protections for both domestic and foreign workers, minimize recruitment obligations inside the U.S. and curtail or eliminate much of the government oversight that is supposed to deter and remedy illegal employer conduct.

Oh how I hope the door hits these folks hard on their way out. For more info, visit Farmworkers Justice. You can contact Congress and ask that they halt this mess too. Also, please take the time to read the special report put out by Farmworkers Justice, Litany of Abuses, Why We Need More –Not Fewer– Labor Protections in the H-2A Guestworker Program (pdf file).