Print
Email Story
OLYMPIA -- Farmers and labor advocates tussled Wednesday over a pair of dueling bills heard by the House Commerce & Labor Committee that deal with seasonal immigrant workers.
Labor advocates like House Bill 1814, introduced by Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, D-North Seattle, which aims to curb unfair practices by farm labor contractors and secure more rights for immigrant workers in the United States under a temporary guest worker program.
But farmers preferred House Bill 1896, introduced by Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, which would require the state's Employment Security Department to prod Congress to create an "essential worker" visa classification, and to implement a pilot program intended to ease the importation of seasonal workers to pick crops or work construction.
At the heart of the debate over the two bills was whether Washington needs more migrant workers, especially during a time when thousands of workers have been laid off from some of the state's largest employers.
Supporters of Kenney's bill claim the influx of immigrant labor under the federal H-2A guest worker program has dragged down conditions for domestic workers.
The H-2A program for agricultural workers allows immigrants to come to the United States on a temporary visa and work at a government-set minimum wage. The program requires farmers to provide transportation, as well as paying visa fees and housing costs.
Chandler's bill would allow farmers to deduct reasonable housing costs from a worker's paycheck. But labor advocates said migrant workers shouldn't have to pay when they're already paying fees to labor contractors just to get a job.
Kenney's bill attempts to tackle the latter issue by stopping contractors from charging recruiting fees. It also prevents them from making false or misleading representations about terms of employment, sending workers someplace where they know a strike or lockout is happening, and from retaliating against workers who complain about working conditions or violations of their rights.
"This bill is abut ensuring the regulation of farmworkers contractors and protecting the farmworkers who are critical for Washington's economy," Kenney said.
Her bill was supported by representatives from the Washington State Labor Council and United Food and Commercial Workers, as well as an attorney from Wenatchee who represents farm workers.
Joe Morrison, the lawyer, said he was speaking on behalf of a client who was afraid to testify out of fear he'd lose his job. He described an "underclass" of guest workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, but who also are dragging down working conditions for domestic workers when employers tell them not to complain or they'll fire them and hire more migrants.
"We need to act now because the number of H-2A workers is on the rise in Washington," Morrison said. "We need equal rights for equal work in Washington agriculture."
But farmers and other seasonal employers told the committee they can't find enough domestic workers to fill their needs and that reforming the guest worker program will help them get food on people's tables.
Rob Valicoff, a farmer from Wapato, described standing outside of his pickup trying to hire workers to pick cherries and finding no one. And that means agricultural products go unpicked, he said
Chandler asked why he can't hire some of the people who have been laid off from other kinds of jobs in Washington. Valicoff replied that he believes too many people are getting help from the state through unemployment or welfare and don't want to do physically demanding farm labor.
"Even if immigration reform gave everyone already here amnesty, they would gravitate toward better jobs," Valicoff said. "We need an H-2A vehicle that works."
But the state doesn't have any control over immigration laws, which are set by the federal government. So all Washington can do is ask Congress to fix the problem.
"This isn't supposed to solve the immigration problem," Chandler said. "It is supposed to find a pathway to have a stable and legal work force. That is my concern. ... This is an attempt to act."
