As a group of landscape industry business owners from Ohio trekked across Capitol Hill to their first appointment on Tuesday morning, it was clear one thing was on their mind: H-2B.
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Though the Ohio delegation and more than 150 of their peers in the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) and the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) attended the 17th annual Legislative Day on the Hill to voice their concerns on four key issues – H-2B, water, association health care plans and tree care safety standards – H-2B dominated the conversation.
This year, delays in H-2B processing caused The Pattie Group’s guest workers to arrive two weeks late, costing the Novelty, Ohio-based company $200,000, said CEO Steve Pattie.
Wayne Impullitti, president of Impullitti Landscaping in Burton, Ohio, told a similar story, noting delays cost him about $100,000. He’s scheduled to buy six new trucks this fall, but hesitates to do so because he’s not sure he’ll have the crews to fill them come spring.
The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act, which exempts returning H-2B workers from counting toward the program’s cap of 66,000, is set to expire on Sept. 30. Without this exemption, green industry businesses that rely on H-2B will face increasing difficulty in obtaining the seasonal field labor they need to operate and grow their businesses.
The first stop for the Ohioans was the Russell Senate Office Building. After a surprise meeting in the elevator with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy – in which the group thanked him for his efforts on immigration reform and H-2B – the group arrived at the office of freshmen Sen. Sherrod Brown.
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Drake began telling the story of contractors in Ohio – explaining the need for an extension of the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act and for further reform and greater resources for H-2B.
“We’re all here trying to do this legally,” he said. “If this doesn’t pass it penalizes us – the companies that are trying to do it legally.”
Other attendees added personal anecdotes about their problems with delays. Others talked about their difficulties in hiring American workers. For example, in 2006 Pattie spent $8,000 to advertise for 12 positions that were never filled.
Hodapp explained Sen. Brown’s two concerns with the issue. No. 1, their office receives “upwards of 1,000 letters per month” from constituents complaining that “there are no jobs in Ohio,” he said. “The Senator is concerned as to why Americans won’t take these jobs.”
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A number of contractors jumped in to share stories about the revolving door of Americans in field positions at their companies. Sandy Munley, executive director of the Ohio Landscapers Association, explained a program the association had tried with the county, in which a bus would pick up inner-city workers daily and drop them off at landscape companies. “They did not get on the bus,” Munley said.
Another concern of Sen. Brown is the effect on local wages, Hodapp said. Munley explained that the Department of Labor sets the wages H-2B employees are paid based on prevailing wages for the work being performed. Mary Wheeler of Wheeler Landscaping in Auburn Township, Ohio, showed documentation about how many American workers she had to hire before someone stayed in one job. “It’s not the pay and it’s not the benefits,” Wheeler said. “It’s the work.”
Although points of the meeting seemed like an uphill battle as Hodapp was unfamiliar with many parts of the H-2B program, contractors left the meeting encouraged and energized. On his way out of Sen. Brown’s office, one contractor said, “Well, we educated one.”
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