Fighting For H-2B Reform

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

And, similarly, how do you reform the H-2B program for temporary and seasonal guest workers? One bite – or one step – at a time.

Determined to conquer the H-2B “elephant,” the American Nursery & Landscape Association and other green industry organizations are working intensely to alter some aspects of the federal program.

“We are very interested in seeing new H-2B legislation move forward,” noted Craig Regelbrugge, senior director of government relations, ANLA. “But, at this point, it’s very likely the problems are going to be dealt with like an elephant – one bite at a time.”

Regelbrugge’s elephant analogy illustrates the gargantuan issues presented by the program, which is so heavily depended upon by the green industry. “Landscape companies are becoming one of the principal users of the system,” he noted. “The industry’s involvement with H-2B has grown on a percentage basis. We’ve come from being a relatively low user of program to a jump of probably 25 percent.”

However, the H-2B program has some weaknesses that are begging for attention, Regelbrugge stated. For example, there are never enough visas to go around.

“There’s a statutory cap on the program of 66,000 visas per year,” he explained. “But because these visas have to be distributed throughout all industries like the resort and hotel industries, that seemingly high number of visas does not go far.”

So, ANLA and other organizations have invested considerable time and energy addressing the weak spots of current H-2B regulations. One specific initiative ANLA has been discussing with government officials would increase the annual visa cap or eliminate it altogether.

However, changing or removing the cap is a politically questionable endeavor. “Lifting the cap will only happen if the political environment is right,” Regelbrugge noted. “There have to be other concessions or guarantees that the seasonal workers will not take away from the rest of the workforce.”

Worries about seasonal workers taking employment opportunities from U.S. citizens have some officials concerned about lifting the cap. However, the agricultural sector of the workforce is the best place to begin such reform, Regelbrugge urged. Bringing in more guest laborers to perform seasonal landscape work would not necessarily snatch jobs from legal citizens.

“Agriculture doesn’t have the same economic concerns,” he described. “Nobody is out there arguing that we have a huge pool of willing workers dying to get out and pick strawberries or mow lawns.”

Regelbrugge anticipated that, in very general sense, Republicans are more likely to embrace H-2B reform than are Democrats. “But if an H-2B initiative regarding the visa cap is viewed as narrow and partisan, it is not likely to get a lot of momentum,” he observed. “It might get through the House, but it will most likely get hung up in the Senate.”

In recent months, Regelbrugge and other ANLA officials have been especially bold in their efforts to influence other aspects of H-2B legislation as well. Leaders of the Washington, D.C.-based trade association have met with prominent government officials to express concerns about how the federal government is administering the seasonal guest worker program.

Motivated by new security-driven procedures for processing guest workers, ANLA requested an emergency meeting with the U.S. State Department in December. Discussion centered on administrative changes that were thought to be causing major delays in visa processing. Specifically, ANLA voiced concerns about a recent memo from the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico, that outlined a new security policy stating that all H-2B program applicants would be subject to detailed, one-on-one interviews before receiving visas.

While meeting with government officials, ANLA presented suggestions on how the State Department could ensure security while obtaining visa clearance for potential workers in a speedy manner. Since the ANLA-initiated gatherings, a new Consular guidance memo has clarified that repeat-return workers will not need face-to-face interviews. The policy change is meant to reduce delays in processing.

And speaking with the Department of Labor, ANLA expressed concerns that the department’s state offices were assigning inappropriate job classifications for many H-2B landscape-related applications. Specifically, the narrow job description of a “landscape laborer” described in the guidance letter does not include duties generally performed by landscape laborers. The improper classifications have pushed many landscape labor applications to higher wage categories.

Despite this slow and steady progress, ANLA and other organizations keep pushing along until the elephant has been eaten – and the H-2B program is sufficiently refined.

“We will continue to be vigilant to keep the H-2B program a viable safety net for employers struggling to find a stable and legal source of labor,” Regelbrugge asserted.

The author is Assistant Editor-Internet for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.