Last month, LCM reported the efforts of the American Nursery & Landscape Association’s (ANLA) efforts to support the reforming of the H-2A and H-2B Guest Worker Programs, particularly the reform bill introduced by Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Now Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.) have introduced a "Democratic version" of guest worker legislation in both the Senate and House. According to a recent announcement from ANLA, the Kennedy/Berman bill would be a greater departure than the Craig bill (S. 1161) from the original December 2000 guest worker legislation compromise.

The Craig bill would enable guest workers the opportunity to earn permanent residence by working a certain number of days over a four-to-six-year period, streamline the bureaucratic process involved, among other reforms.

While working toward their permanent residence status (and after achieving it) these estimated 650,000 guest workers would provide a much-needed labor pool for the landscaping and nursery industries.

Anthony Bedell, ANLA’s Director of Legislative Relations, spoke to LCM about the contrast between the Craig bill and the Kennedy/Berman bill: "The days that [workers] have to spend in agriculture are 150 in the Craig bill and 75 in the Kennedy/Berman bill. That opens [the program] up to people who have never really been committed to the agriculture industry. That’s not something that the nursery and agriculture industry can agree to. We have to have some continuity there where we stabilize our work force for the short term, while we’re working on the guest worker program for the long term."

The competing reform bills also include labor rights differences. "The Kennedy/Berman bill extends the right to organize to [these] workers," said Bedell. "It extends Migrant Seasonal Protection Act (MISPA) coverage to workers, which has never been done before; it’s a farther departure from last year’s compromise than the Craig bill."

ANLA also supports H.R. 2457, the Wage Equity Act introduced by Reps. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Sandford Bishop (D-Ga.). This bill would reform the H-2A’s Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), while the Kennedy/Berman bill would enforce use of AEWR.

"The Adverse Effect Wage Rate is a regulatory wage rate set by the Department of Labor that basically takes the average median hourly wage of every agriculture under the sun -– livestock, nursery, citrus, meat packing, etc." said Bedell. "That hourly wage, based on a 5- or 10-state region, is what you have to pay an H-2A guest worker when the come into the country.

"Now, as you can guess, the hourly wage for the citrus worker is lower, the hourly wage for the nursery worker, meat packer, or sheep herder are a lot higher. When you average those together, it could be anywhere from $8 to $12 per hour. Well, how is a citrus grower going to afford to bring legal labor in when that wage is four or five bucks an hour above what they are used to paying?"

For more information on guest worker reform contact Anthony Bedell at (202) 789-2900.