Napoli Bern Ripka, LLP Blog

Lobbyists Push Law Reform, Regardless of Abundant Labor

The vagueness of immigration reorganization and the mounting confidence of immigration law enforcement continue to aggravate growers, labor lobbyists believed this month. Despite the current condition of the economy and the rising price of oil, the one thing that farmers are not going to be worrying about is the availability of Labor. However, this could turn out to not to be a good thing. The reason for the aboundant amount of workers in the agriculture industry is because workers were formerly employed by contractors building houses and office parks. However due to the slumping housing market in our nation, these workers have returned to agricultural work.

            Craig Regelbrugge, vice president for government relations for the American Nursery and Landscaping Association, Washington, D.C. said, “The story isn’t about crops rotting in the fields all over the place,” he said. “The great challenge we face is that a lot of folks either have decided nothing can happen this year or they have decided they have enough labor today and they are sitting on their hands and staying quiet. Even so, growers are just one immigration raid away from disaster.”

            Since this is a big year with the election, farmers are awaiting labor reform without much hope. This is due to the fact that this issue won’t get much attention because of the upcoming election. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is attempting to find legislation to which she can attach an immigration/agricultural labor bill, called the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act of 2008. This bill is reminiscent to long-simmering AgJobs legislation. The difference it’s that it is a 5yr limited program in which workers don’t have a way to gain citizenship The emergency agriculture relief act of 2008 will also reflect the way wages are organized under the H-2A program.

            Agriculture growers are going to see some relief however, due to the revising of rules in the H-2A program. This relief is coming to aid because of the proposed changes by agriculture growers, employers, employees, and advocates of the topic. Bush’s administration has proposed some ideas however, the consensus from the industry suggest that they would rather come up with their own methods then take that of Bush’s administration. Another determinant is the no-match regulation that would enforce fines and criminal charges for employers who couldn’t prove their workers social security numbers. Agricultural growers are looking forward to finally knowing what laws and rules they must abide by. No one wants to make a mistake, therefore they are anxious to get everything right. All in all, labor shortage is not going to be of concern but sanctions are expected.

              When employees aren’t accustomed to the proper working conditions, problems are sure to arise. When nearly 6 out of 100 workers experience a job related serious injury, there is a need for legal protection. At Napoli Bern Ripka, our attorneys have the resources and the eagerness to litigate labor law cases. Our firm’s experienced attorney’s have the expertise to find out what happened, how it happened, and how it could have been prevented. You may be able to prevent it from happening to someone else. Our clients know they can always rely on us to be there for them.

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