Proposed Foreign Worker Increase Has Other Onerous Provisions
H-2B workers at Pontchartrain Blue Crab
A hurricane or oil spill is of itself disastrous for Gary Bauer, but a new federal rule for documented foreign workers’ wages would be the death knell for his business, if implemented.
“I’ve been through both,” the owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crab in Slidell said.
But the proposed rule, now awaiting federal court decisions on whether the U.S. Department of Labor can go forward, poses other danger for businesses using documented foreign workers.
One of the decisions will come from U.S. District Judge Dee Drell in the Western District of Louisiana. Another decision is expected in the Northern District of Florida.
Drell’s decision is whether to send the case back to a federal court in Pennsylvania or grant a preliminary injunction.
The Pennsylvania decision allowed the Labor Department to go forward with the rule which primarily grants much higher wages to workers hired when Americans can’t be found to do them.
But the ruling has other implications.
One is that employees must be guaranteed payment for 75 percent of the hours in a contract even if the work season ends abruptly because of a hurricane, oil spill or other disaster. “Even if you send them home,” Bauer said, “you get the burden … even if you can’t produce.”
Seasonal foreign workers sorting crab
Another burden is the increase in costs to bring the workers to this country, including transportation, fees and lodging. Bauer said 11 years ago he spent $400 a person, and the new rule, if implemented, would now cost between $800 and $1,000. “It’s treacherous right now,” he said.
Furthermore, the new rule doesn’t allow much time for planning whereas his customers plan six months out how to market and price the products they purchase from Pontchartrain, he said. Bauer said he might have to increase his charge per pound by $10 to $12 “just to break even. It’s really tough on anybody trying to run a business.”
The new rule adds other requirements, too, including more detailed notice, even by electronic means, to workers and more detailed advertising to include the 75 percent wage guarantee, inclusion of transportation costs and that tools and equipment will provided.
The rule was to have taken place on Jan. 1, 2012, then it was moved to Sept. 30, then to Nov. 30.
Earlier this month, President Obama signed a temporary appropriations bill which contained language that the H-2B rule could not be implemented until after Jan. 1, 2012.
In another development, U.S. Reps. Rodney Alexander, R-La., Charles Boustany, R-La. and others have filed HR3162 which would prohibit the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing the H-2B rule or even finalizing it.
Category: Seafood Industry
