A federal judge in California on Thursday denied a request by the United Farm Workers to temporarily block the Trump administration’s revised wage rule for H-2A agricultural workers, a decision welcomed by farm groups supporting the change. The UFW sought a preliminary injunction, arguing the rule could reduce wages and harm workers. Michelle Grainger, Co-Lead for the Ag Wage Rate Coalition which filed an amicus brief supporting the rule, said that was not the case.
“We worked very hard to clearly debunk that, and to state that we did not see irreparable harm being the case, because again this is a highly regulated program, and the level of standards and inspections and requirements required to participate in the program from an employer as well as an employee were not changing, this was only about wage rate,.”
A U.S. District Court in California ruled the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, saying the claims were largely speculative.
Grainger said her group conducted a small survey among farmers asking if the new AEWR had impacted the number of returning farmworkers to their operations.
“Every single person that I sent this quick question out to has already responded to me, saying absolutely not the case at all. Matter of fact, all of our workers have returned this year that we had last year, and I had several respondents further go on to say many of our workers have requested that family members be added to our waitlist for consideration to add to our operation’s workforce.”
The judge did not rule on the broader merits of the lawsuit, which will continue.