Farmworker leaders from Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia have been in Olympia this month supporting bills concerning much-needed oversight of the H2A guestworker visa program. Take action to make sure this bill becomes a law!
C2C has been demanding increased oversight of the H2A guestworker visa program for years. This federal program has created ongoing exploitation and quasi slave labor conditions that led to the death of a farmworker in Whatcom County in 2017.
Thanks to your support, our community based organizing efforts have convinced the WA State Employment Security Department (ESD) to introduce a bill this legislative session (HB 1398 / SB 5438) that would increase their funding for the establishment of an office of oversight for regulation and enforcement of H2A workers to guarantee health and safety for guest farmworkers in Washington State.
Currently, the guestworker visa program is nominally funded by the federal government, but such funding is inadequate considering that the use of the H2A program has grown by 1,000% since 2010 in Washington State. According to Nick Streuli with the ESD, the Department of Labor provides around $300,000 per year to Washington State to run the H2A program, yet he estimates that the ESD requires an additional 1.7 million to 2 million dollars per year to effectively fund the oversight activities of the ESD in relation to the H2A program. See highlights of the bill below.
How to Support the Bill
1. Call and write the members of each Committee where this bill is being heard ASAP! Demand they take responsible action to protect all farmworkers from exploitation and vote to send this bill to a floor vote in the WA State Legislature
House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee:
Chairman Mike Sells: 360-786-7840 Mike.Sells@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chairman Mike Chapman: 360-786-7916 Mike.Chapman@leg.wa.gov
Representative Gina Mosbruker: 360-786-7856 Gina.Mosbruker@leg.wa.gov
Representative Bruce Chandler: 360-786-7960 Bruce.Chandler@leg.wa.gov
Representative Mia Gregerson: 360-786-7868 Mia.Gregerson@leg.wa.gov
Representative Larry Hoff: 360-786-7812 Larry.Hoff@leg.wa.gov
Representative Timm Ormsby: 360-786-7946 Timm.Ormsby@leg.wa.gov
Senate Labor and Commerce Committee:
Chairwoman Karen Keiser: 360-786-7664 Karen.Keiser@leg.wa.gov
Vice Chairman Steve Conway: 360-786-7656 Steve.Conway@leg.wa.gov
Senator Curtis King: 360-786-7626 Curtis.King@leg.wa.gov
Senator John Braun: 360-786-7638 John.Braun@leg.wa.gov
Senator Rebecca Saldaña: 360-786-7688 Rebecca.Saldana@leg.wa.gov
Senator Maureen Walsh: 360-786-7630 Maureen.Walsh@leg.wa.gov
Senator Lisa Wellman: 360-786-7614 Lisa.Wellman@leg.wa.gov
2. Sample Message:
“This bill is what we’ve been demanding for years! Hard working farmworkers keep Washington’s agricultural economy afloat. If there is a “farmworker labor shortage” crisis, its root cause is the continued unchecked exploitation of farmworker families for short-term profits at the expense of healthy and thriving communities. The H2A guestworker visa program is no way to treat a guest — the program needs oversight and the industry needs accountability now! Unregulated labor trafficking is NOT okay.Vote YES to support the Employment Security Department’s funding to protect guest farmworkers, increase the hiring of domestic farmworkers, and build a just, local, organic food system. We are consumers and voters who respect the people that grow our food!”
3. These are additional legislative committees where it would be helpful to provide your support for these bills:
House Rural Development, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee (42nd LD’s Sharon Shewmake and 40th LD’s Debra Lekanoff are on this committee)
Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, and Parks Committee
Highlights of the Bill
- Establishes an office of H2A compliance: for field checks and field visits, training, and outreach to increase awareness of law and compliance
- Establishes a fee to be collected from employers for submitting an H2A application, and a fee for each requested H2A worker by 2022 if the federal government does not increase funding commensurate with the number of H2A workers
- Establishes an advisory committee guaranteeing farmworker representation in the oversight process; this advisory committee would be made up of 4 people representing farmworkers’ interests, 4 representing agricultural employers, and 1 non-voting member to represent the ESD and be chair of the committee.
- The committee would comment on rule-making, policies, and implementation. Furthermore, the committee would submit a report to the governor and legislature that would recommend ways to increase recruitment and hiring of domestic agricultural workers in WA, and would be able to propose related changes to state law.
Farmworkers need your solidarity now!
Gracias,
C2C
Please support the bill!!!!!