Winegrape Growers of America - National Council of Agricultural Employers News Brief.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson

NCAE News, Legal/Technical, & Other Employer Issues:

The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday filed a memorandum in support of its motion to dismiss a case that alleges it illegally fined New Jersey farm Sun Valley Orchards LLC half a million dollars for H-2A visa program violations.

It wasn’t until one worker reported the abuses in 2016 that the federal government caught on, launching a five-year, multi-agency investigation dubbed Operation Blooming Onion.

Brett Donovan Bussey and Jorge Gomez, who worked for the Georgia Department of Labor, have been linked to one of the largest U.S. human trafficking cases ever prosecuted involving foreign agricultural laborers brought here on seasonal visas, reports Yahoo! News via USA Today.

Regulatory Actions:

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are joining forces to combat employer retaliation.

The H-2A program is intended to provide employers with workers needed to operate their businesses for a temporary time period when workers are needed.

A state program that gives up wage relief for Sacramento County farmworkers, food processing workers, agriculture laborers and food stand vendors sick with COVID-19 ends this month.

Legislative Actions:

Pablo Neruda once said “you can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.”

A Democrat lawmaker from the central San Joaquin Valley wants to put cash in the hands of eligible farmworkers to help them deal with the devastation of California’s drought.

H-2 and Other Worker Status Issues:

The H-2A visa program allows farmers in the United States to be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor to recruit and employ guest workers, usually for a maximum of 10 months, when they are unable to find enough workers living in the United States (including U.S. citizens, other legally authorized workers, and workers not authorized to work in the United States).

Safety:

A local nonprofit is urging the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to include farmworker protections in the county’s pending evacuation zone access policy, which would determine when agricultural workers are given access to farmland during wildfires and other types of emergencies.

The Washington, D.C.-based National Council of Agricultural Employers is offering a web seminar on methods to reduce heat stress for farmworkers.

NCAE This Week:

The House and the Senate were both out this week.

For NCAE members who participate in the H-2A program, some bad news was received Wednesday evening. NCAE participated in a conference call with the Department of Homeland Security where we were informed that the Administration’s requirement that essential workers entering the U.S. from foreign countries, will stay in effect until further notice. The original requirement was set to expire on April 21, 2022.

This restriction has added costs and worker delays for agricultural employers using the program. NCAE has been working with USDA, CDC, the Departments of Labor, State, Health and Human Services, and the National Security Council to get added flexibility in the requirement for H-2A workers. Members have reported a stunning number of workers recruited for temporary positions in Mexico, have received non-WHO/CDC approved vaccines. Hopefully, a more sensible approach will be forthcoming. We will keep you posted.

Next Thursday NCAE will be hosting a webinar on Heat Related Illness beginning at 1 pm ET. As we have noted, the Biden Administration is bringing great focus to heat related worker injuries. NCAE members strive diligently to protect the employees we work with from all manner of hazards. This webinar will provide information on how we can protect our team members from the negative impacts of heat in the workplace. Please register for this important webinar at ncaeonline.org.

Have a great weekend!

Michael

News articles and citations of interest for week ending 2022/04/22

The figure 25 percent surfaces in a couple of different but intimately related contexts.

America’s history, economic growth, and global competitiveness are tightly intertwined with food.

From the Industrial Revolution to the Great Recession, labor markets and the nature of employment itself have been greatly altered during periods of both historical growth and stagnation.

Farmworkers in Florida are turning up the pressure on Wendy’s.

Our mailing address is:

525 9th Street, NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20004

Phone: 202-629-9320

Email: info@ncaeonline.org

Subscribe to the MGGA Quarterly Newsletter

Menu

Helpful Links

Menu

Winegrape Growers of America – National Council of Agricultural Employers News Brief.

Memberships

Resources

Forum

Subscribe to the MGGA Quarterly Newsletter

Footer

Menu

Helpful Links