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AgJobs Bill is the Best Way to Ease Farmworker Shortage

By: Editorial

The Bush administration is changing visa rules for temporary farmworkers in hopes of easing the labor shortage that has bedeviled farmers in California and elsewhere.

But the revisions to the H-2A visa program are a Band-Aid at best and harmful at worst. They fall far short of the broader reforms needed to ensure a stable and legal workforce for American agriculture. Instead of tinkering, the Bush administration should propose comprehensive changes: It should work with Congress to pass the AgJobs bill introduced last year by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

Last week, the Labor Department proposed new rules to simplify and relax the cumbersome H-2A program that grants temporary visas to immigrant farmworkers. But some of the changes - such as one involving how H-2A wages are calculated and another on housing - could reduce pay and undermine worker protections.

More important, the changes ignore the larger realities of the U.S. farm economy.

The United States issues 50,000 to 60,000 H-2A visas a year. The government isn't estimating how many more immigrants would enter under the new rules, other than to say it will promote an "orderly and timely flow" of legal workers and improve the H-2A process. But agricultural employers, while generally supporting the administrative changes, say they don't do nearly enough to solve their problems.

The rule changes fail to address the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented laborers already here, who represent as much as 70 percent of the farm workforce. They are the mainstay of the American farm economy, taking back-breaking jobs that many Americans spurn. The AgJobs bill would create a new guest worker program that would allow these workers to eventually become citizens if they stay in agriculture for an additional three to five years and meet other requirements. A path to legalization provides the best way to ensure a reliable long-term source of experienced farmworkers. It also would help improve wages and work conditions for farm laborers.

The AgJobs legislation reflects a consensus reached after years of negotiation among workers, employers and lawmakers in both parties. The measure was part of a comprehensive immigration bill that died in the Senate in June.

Feinstein should not give up. A persistent labor shortage hurts the competitiveness of U.S. farmers, who increasingly are shifting food production overseas. It leaves crops to rot in the fields. And it fosters an underground market that can worsen exploitation and work conditions of farm labor. Instead of tinkering with administrative changes, Congress and the White House must make broader policy reforms to ensure a healthy farm economy.