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H2A Master Application US-DOL Issue 2008
GOOD NEWS - Thanks to the combined effort of farmers, farmworker advocates, the NC Growers Association and the NC Agribusiness Council - not to mention the considerable heavy lifting done by key members of the NC Congressional delegation - this issue with US-DOL has been resolved for the 2008 season. NCAg will be closely monitoring this issue as we move into the 2009 season to ensure that NC farmers are able to utilize the H2a program - without discrimination.
ISSUE BACKGROUND -In mid-June 2008, the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA is a non-profit, farmers' cooperative) was informed that its farmers' cooperative master applications for H2A workers, which NCGA submitted on behalf of their farmer members would be denied by the Chicago Processing Center of US-DOL. The Executive Summary of Issue highlights this critical issue and the position of NC H2A farmer/employers regarding the Chicago H2A Processing Center of US-DOL denial of a long-standing interpretation of the rules and the statutory rights of family farmers.
North Carolina is the largest user of the federal H2A program, due in large part to the farmers' cooperative model of North Carolina that designates the cooperative (NCGA) as a joint employer with its farmer members, thereby allowing workers to be transferred among the membership designated with each job order. For twenty years, US-DOL Processing Centers across the United States have approved of the farmers' cooperative model of North Carolina, which has allowed small family farms the ability to afford to utilize the legal H2a visa program - as opposed to other states where primarily large corporate farms have been able to afford to utilize the H2a program due to economies of scale.
In North Carolina, the economic impact of this reversal of interpretation by the Chicago H2a Processing Center of US-DOL, is estimated to have a devastating impact of over $62.5 million on NC's economy - with long-term impacts being significantly higher. In fact, based on farmer use of the program in other states, it is evident that this change will negatively impact between 85 to 94% of North Carolina farmers who currently use the H2A program but will find they are no longer able to afford to use the H2A program if the farmers' cooperative model of North Carolina for master applications (which have been approved for the past 20 years) are to be denied by Chicago Processing Center of US-DOL. These NC family farmers(who are located throughout the state) will have a tough decision to make if family farmers lose their right to access of the H2A program and will be forced to either 1) quit growing labor intensive crops such as vegetables; 2) quit farming and sell their farmland for urban development; 3) use illegal workers since the available workforce for short-term, temporary manual farmwork is not sufficient to meet the demand in North Carolina or 4) a combination of the above.
The US Department of Labor needs to continue accepting master applications from grower cooperatives, which allow small family farms to utilize the H2A program. The H2A program should not just be a program geared for the large corporate farms who can afford the economy of scale and thereby justify the higher expense associated with using legal H2A workers.
The Chicago Processing Center of US - DOL claims their reversal of interpretation is based upon protection of US workers and farmworkers; yet both the NC Employment Security Commission supervisor of Agricultural Services as well as numerous farmworker advocates disagree and have publicly declared their support of the farmers' cooperative model for master applications as submitted by NCGA; and these groups join North Carolina Agricultural Advocates in urged the Chicago H2A processing center of US-DOL to accept the farmers' cooperative model of North Carolina master applications as US-DOL has done for the past 20 years.
US - DOL should revert back to its 20 year policy of approving the farmers' cooperative model of North Carolina for master applications. By doing so, US-DOL will demonstrate its support for agriculture, support for farmers, support for US workers, support for farmworkers, and support for the American food supply (American's first line of defense) by accepting the master applications model as submitted by the farmers' cooperative of North Carolina.
| Correspondence Between NC Growers & US DOL |
Emails & Letters of Support
Worker Advocacy Groups for NC Growers Cooperative Model Master Application
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