February 2019 - 31

MANAGEMENT
WHAT'S AHEAD? LIKELY
MORE OF THE SAME
According to Regelbrugge,
historically the H-2A program has
been used more widely in the food
production industry with vegetables
and tobacco.
" We have seen rapid growth in
recent years in our industry, " he
remarks. " There are some horticulture
companies that have been in the
program for 20 years. Interestingly
the entry of some companies into
the program followed an immigration
enforcement action.
" During the Clinton administration
there was a big wave of work site
enforcement around 1996. Growers
who lost their experienced labor
force due to audits or raids have
gone into H-2A and have been in
the program ever since. H-2A is very
critical to them. "
Regelbrugge says the
deteriorating labor situation is
forcing everyone to look at a variety
of options including mechanizing
and automating where possible and
reducing labor need overall.
" The law does allow for different
employment arrangements with the
H-2A program, " he said. " In our
industry most of the employment of
H-2A workers is direct employment,
meaning the owner or company
management is employing people
directly just like they would employ
U.S. workers. That's the most
common method.
" But there are opportunities
within the structure of the program
to have an H-2A labor contractor
(LC) provide the labor. It functions
much the same as labor contracting
does now where it exists. Labor
contracting is big in California
where there is a high density of
crops, many of which have relatively
short harvest seasons. There's a
lot of labor contracting because
it's easier for growers to turn to
a contractor. The growers pay a
little more, but the labor contractor
provides the labor at the time
needed and then goes on to the
next crop or the next grower. That
same thing can happen with the
H-2A program. "
Regelbrugge says the industry
should be bracing for more worksite
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administration.
" If a grower came to me and
asked if they should participate
in H-2A, a component of my
answer would be to take a
look at the program, " he says.
" Figure out what it would take to
implement the program. Do some
contingency planning in case the
worse happens and your company
is audited or raided and you lose a
large amount of your work force. "
For more information: Craig
Regelbrugge, AmericanHort,
craigr@americanhort.org;
www.americanhort.org.
David Kuack is a freelance technical
writer in Fort Worth, Texas. He can
be reached at dkuack@gmail.com.
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http://www.americanhort.org http://www.dramm.com
February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2019
