Eighteen farmworkers, United Farmworkers of America, and the UFW Foundation are suing the Trump Administration because of a policy change that will lower wages for foreign farmworkers with H-2A agricultural visas. H-2A visas are for foreign workers coming to the U.S. to work temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.
A new rule from the U.S. Department of Labor will change how the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR), the minimum hourly wage for foreign H-2A workers, is calculated. AEWR is meant to prevent the lowering of domestic farm worker wages so U.S. workers aren’t being undermined by cheap foreign labor.
The Trump Administration’s new rule will cut wages of H-2A workers between $5 and $7 per hour, according to a press release from the UFW Foundation. The goal of the labor labor department is to address worker shortages and prevent prices from rising.
Diego Iñiguez-López is the Director of Government Affairs for the United Farmworkers Foundation. He said the rule will transfer an estimated $2.46 billion from workers to employers annually. “It’s more of a Christmas gift to huge agricultural corporations,” he said.
Iñiguez-López said the rule will put downward pressure on the wages of U.S. domestic workers, especially those that work with H-2A workers. “The rule’s going to allow employers to use cheaper labor, ultimately incentivizing them to use H-2A workers over U.S. workers who are willing and able to do this work,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, the estimated H-2A hourly rate in Michigan could fall below the minimum wage, to $12.46 an hour. The rule will also lower the wages of domestic workers from an estimated $18.15 to $13.78.
Iñiguez-López said the wage cuts will hurt farmworkers’ ability to pay for food, housing, transportation, and health care. “It forces them to get second jobs, make cuts to groceries, gas, and other necessities, and it forces them to move because they wouldn't be able to afford where they currently live,” he said.
“A large percentage of farmworkers already live in poverty, and these wage cuts will deepen that poverty all for the purpose of corporate greed,” Iñiguez-López continued.
Some of the farmworkers involved in the lawsuit are from or have worked in Michigan. Irene Mendoza is a U.S. citizen farmworker who was only paid $17 an hour for the $20 she was promised in Michigan. Margaret DeAnda Magallon is a U.S. citizen farmworker in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The wage cuts may require her to get a second job, work extra hours, and get help from food banks.
Iñiguez-López said the rule is unlawful. According to a press release from the UFW Foundation, the rule was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires giving the public an opportunity to provide feedback.
Iñiguez-López said the goal of the lawsuit is to block the rule by getting a federal court to declare that it’s unlawful and to prevent harm to farmworkers across the U.S.
