Despite the claims by some that H-2A foreign guest workers are taking jobs from American workers, the numbers don’t back them up.
Kate Tynan, Vice President of the Northwest Horticultural Council, says there are laws that say American workers who want to work on a farm get the first shot at those jobs.
“The rules of the program are very explicit, which state that you cannot displace U.S. workers with H-2A workers. Growers are required to advertise all the details of the position as soon as the job order is filed, up through the first half of the H-2A worker’s contract.”
And that is without exception.
“They are required to hire every willing and qualified worker who shows up and applies. And if they don’t do that, they are in violation of the program, and I will say, in Washington and Oregon, we have a very robust state agency that is ensuring that those rules are being followed.”
But Tynan says the reality is this.
“This past year, there were only 32 workers who came through the state system and applied for the H-2A jobs that were out there. And we don’t even know how long they actually ended up staying, if they did end up staying. That’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the total number of H-2A jobs in the state of Washington. So, that argument, frankly, is not based on reality.”
But so-called labor advocates argue the program puts downward pressure on domestic wages and conditions.