The threat of wintry weather didn’t keep a few dozen of H-2B users from various industries from attending a Fly-in on Capitol Hill Feb. 13 for the guest worker program.
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Representatives from the seafood, hotel, resort and quarry industries joined lawn care professionals for a day of appointments to bend the ears of their Congress members. Hank Lavery, president of the organization Save Small Business, rallied the group and offered talking points before sending them off to their meetings.
“Without H-2B program, I’d say pretty much everyone in this room is out of business,” Lavery said. “Save Small Business doesn’t have a lobbyist. It’s all of you coming to these it’s you guys connecting with Congressmen. Every office you approach, you must find a way to pass it. If it’s not today, it’s an e-mail later, it’s a call later. It’s follow up, follow up, follow up. If we don’t do it, H-2B’s gone.”
| SECOND FLY-IN PLANNED |
Organizers are planning a second Fly-in for March 6, which is closer to the new date that an H-2B bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate. Lawn & Landscape will provide more details as they're available. |
Lawn and landscape professionals in attendance included Terry Culver of Rocco Fiore & Sons, there to represent the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association. Culver estimates that a third of Rocco Fiore’s workforce are H-2B workers. During one of his appointments, he talked to a staff member of Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) about the challenge of finding American workers.
“My son quit three times,” he says. “My own son won’t even work for his father.”
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Others in the group had similar troubles trying to find U.S. citizens to work. Their message throughout the day was that if the H-2B cap exemption is extended for good, they will be more likely to find the amount of labor their businesses need.
A bill was originally expected to be announced in the Senate mid-February that would extend the amendment to make returning workers exempt from the 66,000-person cap. The amendment currently is set to expire Sept. 30.
Those who were deterred by the snow and freezing rain will get another chance to lobby their representatives in Congress because a second Fly-in is planned for March 6. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) hoped to introduce an H-2B cap extension bill the week of the first Fly-in, but the Senate was tied up with other business. Expectations are that the bill will be introduced in March, so H-2B supporters are planning a second Fly-in to make sure the issue remains fresh in their elected representatives’ minds.