FFVA Urges Changes to H-2A Program

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) recently urged the repeal of two labor regulations that are driving up costs for growers using the H-2A program, which allows temporary foreign agricultural workers. The FFVA letter requesting the changes was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

FFVA called for the rescission of:

• The Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology Rule, which disaggregated H-2A wages, increased costs for growers and subjected growers to wage adjustments twice a year
• The H-2A Worker Protection Rule, which FFVA says imposes excessive red tape and infringes on growers’ property rights. Portions of the rule have already been blocked by federal courts.

The letter stated that Florida, the largest user of the H-2A program, has had its AEWR jump nearly 10% this year and 15% two years ago. It added that the Worker Protection Rule “ventures more to illegally grant third party labor organizations rights and access to private agricultural properties and erode due process mechanisms for H-2A employers than it does to improve protections for workers.”

The letter, signed by FFVA Director of Labor Relations Jamie Fussell, stated that the association’s members rely on large seasonal workforces to grow and harvest their crops. It noted that those members have become increasingly reliant on the H-2A program that is administered in part by the U.S Department of Labor.

“In the past few years, the department has aggressively promulgated several rules which make the H-2A program more costly and burdensome to use,” the letter stated. “These regulations come at a time when growers struggle to secure a stable and legal workforce. So, they’ve had no choice but to turn to the H-2A program and its increasing regulatory burden.”

The vast majority of Florida citrus has been harvested by H-2A workers in recent years.

FFVA is an agricultural organization with a grower-shipper membership that represents the majority of fruit, vegetable and other specialty crop production in Florida.

Source: FFVA